A Cooler Conversation
by Whackadoo
Summary: Bobby forces the boys to take a break from hunting and go camping. But the Winchesters can't do anything normal people do...because they aren't normal people. See what hijinks and shenanigans ensue...
1. Chapter 1

"You boys need to take a break. Go out to the lake or camping or something."

"We're fine."

Bobby scrutinized them. They looked haggard, tired, like zombies on auto pilot. "You're fine? You've been workin' yourselves to the bone, non-stop now, for close to two months straight! Ever since your dad passed-"

"I said we're fine!" Dean took a last swallow of his beer and then looked at the empty bottle in his hand as if he had no idea where it's contents had disappeared to. He set it on the counter behind him and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Really? I know full well what it means when you say you're fine. When's the last time you had any decent sleep?" Bobby looked from one brother to the other, daring them to lie.

"Last night." Sam finally answered.

"Last night? You were on the road for ten hours straight."

"Yeah. I slept in the car." he said, knowing it wouldn't satisfy Bobby.

"You call that sleep?" Bobby muttered under his breath. "And what about you?" He asked, glaring at Dean. Dean just glared back. "Dean? When's the last time you slept, boy?"

"Tuesday, okay, but I'm fine! I rarely ever sleep every night anyway." Bobby couldn't believe his ears.

"That was five days ago! No! That's it! You two are officially on vacation!" Bobby mumbled something about idjits.

Dean pushed himself away from the kitchen counter he had been leaning on. "Aw, c'mon, man! There's got to be tons of cases out there for us!" Dean looked to Sammy for support, but Sam knew well enough to stay out of an argument with Bobby.

"Not for you, there ain't! You get your dad's camping gear and get outta my sight for at least two weeks!" Bobby headed for the door outside, argument over.

"But, Bob-"

Bobby turned on his heel. "Zip it, boy! Now git! The world ain't gonna come to an end if Dean Winchester takes a break from hunting. There's some MRE's downstairs you can take with you. Now go." Dean heaved a sigh and tried to stare Bobby down, but he was unwavering.

"Fine. Fine! If it'll make you happy, we'll go." Dean huffed out with an accompanying eye roll. He stormed off into the den and Bobby slammed through the back door. Dean flopped down onto the couch, set his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands.

Sam followed, quietly, into the den and sat on the corner of the desk. He just waited for Dean. No point in pushing him.

After a while Dean sighed and looked up at his brother. "So... I guess if we're gonna do this, then we're gonna to do it right. Where do you want to go?"

Sam was surprised by the question. Dean usually took lead on most everything. He thought for a moment. "You remember that place Dad took us, when we were little...the place where I-"

"The place where you tripped over your own shoelaces and then you needed, like, ten stitches?" Dean grinned to himself remembering back.

Sammy frowned. "No, Dean. The place where I-"

"The place where you fell over that log and gave yourself a black eye?" Dean chuckled.

"Damn it, Dean! No! The place where I-"

"Oh, I know. The place where you shaved off one of Dad's eyebrows because I said if you did it and said some magic words, that you'd grow chest hair?" Dean let out a full on guffaw, complete with knee slapping. "Damn, man...Dad tore you a knew one! Thought you were a dead man...ahhh." Dean continued to laugh, missing Sammy giving him a most classic bitch face.

"Damn it, Dean! No! The place where I caught my first fish!" Sam crossed his arms over his chest, pouting.

"Oh, yeah. There's also that..." Dean smiled at him, the twinkle in his eye, his apology for hurt feelings. "Yeah... I think I know the place. Pacific northwest somewhere." He slapped his hands down on his thighs and stood up. "Okay, you go check out those MRE's Bobby mentioned and work out what we need food-wise and I'll head out to dad's storage and get the gear."

Sam watched as Dean headed out, shaking his head. Dean may fight tooth and nail against something, but when he finally decided to do it, whether he originally wanted to or not, he went at it 100%. Sam got up and headed down to Bobby's basement. He wandered aimlessly for a bit before he spotted what he was looking for. Back under the stairs was a large shelving unit. Stacked on it, taking every spare inch, were so many MRE's that Sam thought they could eat for a year. They were all the same nasty tan color. Nothing fancy. He picked one up and looked at it. 'Chicken and Rice'. He looked at another, 'Eggs and Sausage'. Could be worse, he supposed. He could have to deal with Dean's attempts at cooking the whole time. He looked around him and noticed an empty box. He grabbed it and started loading it up. After he got it all upstairs, he borrowed Bobby's car and went into town for some fruit and other perishables they could take along.

Dean hesitated at the lock to the storage unit. He hadn't been in here for years. Long before dad had died. Stuffing the emotions into that little box inside, he opened it up and went in. The place looked like a survivalist's bunker. Canned goods filled a shelf to one side, camping gear, tools enough to build your own house, and even one of those push lawn mowers that had the spinning blades and no motor. Of course, there were also 'other' tools in here. In a locked cage at the back were enough weapons to outfit a small militia, two five gallon buckets of salt, two five gallon buckets of blessed holy water, and a filing cabinet with notes and newspaper clippings. He hesitated at the cage, wanting to go in and poke around the weapons, but reminded himself he was on a mission.

Dean collected the tent, sleeping bags and pads, a rain tarp, cooking supplies, some tools and other necessities and loaded up the car. He decided to go back in and grab some of the canned stuff. As he was clearing a spot from one of the shelves, he noticed something back behind the cans. Frowning, he grabbed an armload of cans and set them on the floor at his feet. When he stood back up and looked through the hole he had made, he saw a few pictures stuck to the wall behind the shelves. He reached through and pulled them off the wall. They were pictures of Dad, Sammy and himself from when they went camping as kids. Camping doesn't sound like something a hunter would take the time to do, but to dad, it was just another training exercise.

Dean looked at the first two pictures. He didn't remember dad taking these. They were of he and Sammy goofing off. The first was taken looking up into a tree where he and his brother were attempting to build a fort. From the looks of the picture, it wasn't going so well. Dean smiled. The second one was better. He was standing knee deep in a creek in his underwear. He had to have been maybe twelve years old. The best thing about the picture, though, was Sammy. He was in mid-fall. Dean chuckled. He had probably pushed Sammy and Dad had caught it on film. They were both grinning in the picture. Happier days.

The last picture was of dad. It brought a wash of memories back to Dean. They had been hiking somewhere and Dean had gotten a hold of the camera and was pretending to be a spy. He had been trying to sneak up on his father and brother off and on throughout the whole hike and pretending to take photos of them. Little had he known that he was really snapping pictures until after this last picture had been taken. He chuckled again. He had gotten quite the ass whooping, but it had been worth it. The picture was horribly crooked, as only a kid could do, and was of his father standing at a bush. He had his back turned but was looking over his shoulder at Dean with a look of surprise, mixed with anger. Dean had caught him taking a leak and snapped a photo. He laughed to himself again and wondered at why his dad had kept this photo.

He took one last look at the pictures and then set them on top of the cans on the shelf. He picked up the cans he had set on the floor and replaced them. Grabbing the last of the supplies, he headed out to the car, locking up as he went.

Back at Bobby's, Sam and Dean loaded up their backpacks and then packed everything into the car. Inside, they poured over maps, figuring out exactly where they wanted to go. There was some back country in the northwest that they could hike into and camp. There were several small lakes and ponds in the area, so water wouldn't be an issue. Two days there, a day hiking in, a day hiking out, and two days back. That left eight solid days of just camping out. Bobby should be more than happy.

"Are you boys still here?" Bobby asked. They turned at his voice and he handed them each a can of pop. Dean looked at it with distaste. "What? You're gonna be drivin', ain't ya?" The boys just grinned, tapped cans, and chugged it down.

"We were just leaving, by the way." Sam said. He proceeded to point out on the maps roughly where they were headed. "Doubt we'll have cell service out there. We'll be completely out of touch."

"Good." Bobby said with a grin.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Well, that just means you won't be able to call us for help when the shit hits the fan and you need a couple extra hunters."

"I think we'll manage." Bobby said sarcastically. The boys gathered up a few remaining items and headed for the door. "You boys take it easy and get some rest!"

"Yeah whatever. Later old man!" Dean said, laughing, as he went out the door.

Sam turned and smiled at Bobby. "Later, Bobby."


	2. Chapter 2

2

They traveled for two days, as expected, and were holed up in a sleazy motel about three hours from the trail head leading into the back country they planned on camping in. Dean was currently enjoying the finer points of magic fingers and Sam was at the table cruising the internet for the last time before they headed out in the morning. At least, that's what he was doing previously. Now he just sat and stared at his brother and chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny, there, Sammy?"

"You. Magic fingers. All of this."

"Man, you underestimate the power of magic fingers. I'm going to be so loose tomorrow. That hike is going to be cake."

"How will you ever survive a week in the woods without your magic fingers?"

"No worries, Sammy. I'll have you!"

"If you think I'm touching you in any way, you can forget it!" Sam shook his head.

"Aww, c'mon! A nice massage at the end of the day would be so great! Loosen tight muscles..." Dean's voice shook along with him on the bed.

"No, Dean. Forget it!"

The next day they headed out early. Dean stopped at a small mini-mart and topped off Baby's tank and they stopped at the visitor's center at the entrance to the park. There, they got the latest maps and signed in for a back country use permit. They traveled about fifteen minutes to the small pull off and parked the car. They got a few extra items out of the trunk that the common hiker normally wouldn't carry with them. Backpacks on, rifles slung over their shoulders, and knives belted to their legs, they made their way into the forest.

They hiked in silence for a while. It wasn't too overly hot. The weather was actually perfect considering they didn't particularly own anything considered camping gear. In fact, they both wore jeans which, Sam was pretty sure, were the last thing one was supposed to wear hiking or camping. Eventually Dean broke the silence by humming to himself.

"Is that... Dean, are you humming AC/DC?"

"Mm-hmm." He answered mid-song. Sam listened, trying to nail the tune.

Sam grinned. "For Those About to Rock?"

"We Saluuuuute You!" Dean belted out in answer.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Sam asked, watching Dean walk with the small green cooler balanced on his head. He had insisted on bringing it, saying it had a multitude of uses, and had refused to leave it behind.

"Damn straight. Bobby was right, Sammy. We need a break from hunting, from that damned yellow eyed demon, all of it."

"Bobby was right?" Sam asked incredulously. "You were the one fighting him tooth and nail over it!"

Dean was silent for a moment. "Yeah, well...it's good for him. He would have gotten suspicious if we just went right along with his idea."

Sam shook his head, glad he was behind Dean where he couldn't see him doing it.

"Anyway. Who's the one who isn't ready for this? Not me! You're the one who was always gettin' hurt on our little camping trips, Sammy."

"Dean! I was a kid! Kids are always getting hurt messing around in the woods!"

"And messing around at the campsite, and in the tents, and at the latrine, and in the car..."

"Alright...ALRIGHT!" Sam reached forward and gave his brother a shove.

"Hey! Watch it! Precious cargo here, man!" Dean said, as he almost dropped the cooler.

"What's in there anyway?"

"Liquid cheer, of course!" Dean lowered the cooler and carried it for a while in front of himself. Sam could tell it was full by how heavy it seemed. He chuckled to himself. Not the average campers, that's for sure.

They stopped for a mid-day meal after a couple hours. Dean set the cooler down and plopped himself atop it. He leaned his rifle against it on the one side and dumped his backpack on the ground in front of himself. Sam sat on a small boulder opposite him.

"Now. I said I had lunch covered and I don't disappoint!" Dean said, standing up excitedly.

"I'm scared." Sam answered nervously. No idea what his brother was up to. Dean turned to the cooler and popped up the lid. He pulled out two foot long pre-made subs from the mini-mart, handing one over to Sam. He then pulled out two bottles of water.

"No need to be scared, Sammy. I'll take care of you, princess." Dean said with a healthy dose of snark. He settled himself back down on the cooler and worked on freeing the sandwich before him.

Sam didn't respond to Dean's jab, but worked at his own sandwich. They ate in silence, bird song the only sound. Dean tore through his sub in no time and was soon digging around in the cooler again. When he turned back around, he had in his hands, one of those mini personal sized pies. Sam looked at his older brother in awe.

"Seriously?"

"I got you one too! You want it?"

"No, Dean."

"All the more for me, then!" And he dug into his little pie with a relish rarely seen by man.

"You never cease to amaze me." Dean, mouth stuffed full of pie, just gave him a goofy grin.

They finished eating and were loading themselves back up when there was a loud sound. It was a screeching type sound that echoed through the trees. They stopped and looked at each other and then out into the forest around them. They had gotten pretty deep into the woods and the trees were pretty thick. They really couldn't see further than maybe ten yards in any one direction. Even the trail they were following was a bit overgrown. If not for the occasional blue blaze on a tree they would have been wandering aimlessly ages ago.

Whispering, Dean leaned over to Sam. "What was that, you suppose?"

Sam made a frown. "Bird of some sort?"

"Huh." Taking a last look around, Dean hefted the now somewhat lighter cooler up to his head. Dirt and twigs rained down onto his head and shoulders, but he didn't seem to notice. "Let's go. I wanna make camp before nightfall."

They followed the trail they were on until a tree with an orange blaze veered off to the left. There was no real trail here. Just an orange blaze every once in a while. This way led down into a small valley, of sorts, with a small lake at the bottom. On the far edge of the lake was a small chunk of land covered in pine trees. That's where the guys were headed. Not within sight of the lake, but close enough to walk down the hill for water. Or a swim, if Dean had his way. They figured the pines would offer better protection from the elements if it decided to rain.

They wandered in the pines for a while until Dean found the perfect spot. A giant pine had been uprooted by a storm or something and lay on it's side in a small clearing. "We can set up the tent next to the downed tree and run the tarp over the tent and to the tree. That'll give us a small little area outside the tent to store some stuff as well as that giant giving us a natural wind break. If we do the tarp at a slant, it'll carry any rain down over the tree and away from camp." Dean said all this while pointing and waving his hands about.

"Huh. Color me impressed." Sam responded.

"What? While you were busy tripping over things, I was actually learning some stuff from Dad."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm just amazed any of it stuck. So. You want tent detail or firewood and water detail?"

"I'll take the firewood and water." Dean set about getting needed supplies and tools out of his backpack for the two of them to use and Sam did likewise. Using the large pit from where the roots tore up from the pine tree as a starting point, Dean dug a bit deeper and decided to use it as a natural fire pit. He wandered down to the lake and collected some rocks. He brought them up and made a nice ring in the pit with them.

"Okay. Going out to collect some wood." Dean tucked a flashlight into his inner jacket pocket and checked his colt in his pants.

"Don't get lost, Crocket."

"Har har." Dean called over his back as he made his way back toward the deciduous woods they had been in earlier.

Sam set to work with the tent. It was a three to four man tent, which sounded rather large, but once you got both of their large frames in there, it became much smaller. It came with a perfectly sized ground sheet that he lay out. He then set up the tent, staking it through the grommets at the corners of the ground sheet. He got some of their rope out and tied two of the corners of the rain tarp to the trunks of a couple trees nearby. He kept the lines loose and went around to the downed tree. It was huge, maybe five feet tall on it's side. He grabbed the corner of the tarp, a couple spikes, and the hatchet, and scrambled up the side of the tree where he proceeded to lose his grip on the tarp. _Damn it!_ Leaving the hatchet and spikes on the tree, he hopped down and again retrieved the tarp that lay draped over the tent.

He struggled up the tree again and almost lost the tarp again. Just when he was thinking he had done this all in the wrong order, he finally made it up. He pulled the tarp over to the far side of the trunk and hammered a spike down through one of grommets and into the tree. As he turned to pull up the other corner his foot snagged the other spike and it swung out, dangling from his shoelace. _Shit!_ As he reached out ever so slowly, it slipped off his lace and fell to the ground. _Thank God Dean wasn't here to see all this. Damn it!_ Down again from the tree on the opposite side this time. He grabbed the offending spike and jammed it into his back pocket and scrambled back up the tree trunk. Finally, having gotten the tarp nailed to the tree's trunk, he went over and pulled the ropes tight at the other end.

Standing back to admire the work, Sam caught sight of Dean coming back through the trees. His arms were full of wood and Sam went over to grab some of it from him. They piled it up in the space between the tent and the tree to keep it dry. Dean grabbed a collapsible jug, made to hold three gallons of water, and headed down to the lake.

He worked the folds out of the jug and crouched at the water's edge. He could just dunk the whole thing and fill it quickly, but he risked getting all kinds of things in there with it. Like algae and other plant life. So he gently dipped the edge into the water and slowly let the water into the jug. He looked out over the lake and noticed it was starting to get dark. As soon as the sun ducked behind the hills it would get darker and colder rather quickly. He looked back down at the jug and heard a splash out in the lake. He brought his eyes up and saw large ripples flowing out in a ring far out in the lake. He suddenly wished he could have figured out a way to lug some fishing gear out here with them too. He finally finished with his jug and stood up, stretching out his back. He capped the jug and turned back toward camp, missing the ripples that formed just a few feet out from where he had just been standing.

When he got back to camp, Sam had a fire going and was getting the cooking gear set up. Dean got a second jug and the hand filter they had. He connected the jugs at opposite ends of the filter and started pumping it from one jug to the other, passing it through the filter. This would make it safe for washing, etc. They would still boil a good portion of it for drinking, though. As he was working, his nose perked up. "What's that smell?" He turned to Sam at the fire and couldn't believe his eyes. "Sammy, you are a god among men!"

"Well you're not the only one who can set a good table." Sam was working on frying up a couple hamburg patties over the fire.

Dean pulled out a couple beers from the cooler and they sat by the fire eating hamburgers and pie. "How many of those did you buy?" Sam asked, eying Dean's little pie.

"Enough."


	3. Chapter 3

3

The guys sat around the fire for a bit, but after the day of hiking, they were both beat and headed to an early bedtime. Dean couldn't just let Sammy go right to sleep, though. Taking a leaf, he would lean over and, ever so gently, tickle Sam's face with it. Sam would swat at the imagined bug and roll over. Dean would tickle his ear. Sam would swat at the unseen annoyance. The third time, Dean wasn't fast enough and Sam swatted his hand. "Damn it, Dean!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, nerd." Dean said, getting down into his sleeping bag.

"Whatever." Sam grumped and rolled over again. After the evening's shenanigans, both boys dropped quickly off to sleep.

Sometime after midnight, they were jolted awake by a loud trumpeting sound. They sat bolt upright and looked around the darkened tent. "What was that?" Dean asked as he worked on getting out of his sleeping bag.

"Sounded like the trumpet of an elk or some sort of deer in trouble, maybe?"

The guys stumbled out of the tent and slipped on their shoes. Dean was scanning the clearing around them. The sound came again followed by splashing. "Is it rutting season? Maybe we got a couple bulls fighting down by the lake." Sam finished with his shoes and stood looking in the direction of the lake. Of course nothing was visible from their site.

"How the hell should I know if it's rutting season?" Dean opened his mouth to say something more but was interrupted by an unearthly screech. He flashed a look at Sam. "That ain't no deer." Dean said and his gun appeared out of nowhere in his hand. Sam should have known better since Dean slept with the thing. He leaned back into the tent to grab one of the rifles and nodded to Dean when he was set. They quietly made their way down to the lake.

They crouched in the brush at the edge of the woods. The moon wasn't full, but it was a clear night and they could see pretty well. About a hundred yards or so around the lake to their right was a large elk. It was about ten feet or more out into the lake and it was thrashing about as if trying to get away from something. It was clearly trying to get back to shore. Sam gave a confused look to his brother who just responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Sam set the rifle to his shoulder, took loose aim at the elk, and slowly started out from the brush. Dean held his own gun at the ready and followed, not sure what they were going to do.

As they got closer Sam lowered the rifle when he realized the elk could have cared less about them. It's eyes were rolling back into it's skull and it was foaming from the mouth. It was terrified. Sam and Dean started scanning the lake. The water all around the elk was thrashing and waving. It was difficult to see anything through it all. It was obvious that something had hold of the elk. Just then the elk trumpeted out it's terrified cry and Sam and Dean ducked a bit out of instinct.

"I think it's just caught on something." Dean said, raising his voice to be heard over the crashing water. "Probably has a hoof caught in a submerged tree and thinks some mountain lion has it."

"A mountain lion? In a lake?" Sam frowned at Dean.

"What? Like the elk knows any better!"

The elk suddenly turned sideways to them and whipped it's head back like it was trying to gore something with it's antlers. Then, from the same general area as the elk, they heard the screeching again and the elk disappeared from sight. It didn't just slip from view, either. The thing was dragged violently below the surface of the water.

"Holy shit! You see that?" Dean raised his gun up again and ran to the edge of the lake closer to where the elk had been. He waved his gun back and forth across the lake as he scanned for anything.

"What the hell?" Sam ran to join his brother. He pulled a flashlight from inside his pocket and flicked it on and scanned the water with it. The water slowly calmed and all was quiet.

"Okay. Forget the tree theory. There is something fucking huge out in that lake." Dean said this as he suddenly realized how close he had gotten to the edge and he backed away from the water. Sam did likewise, looking down at his feet.

After they had backed far enough away that they felt safer, they just stood waiting. The water became so calm that you would never know something so vicious had just happened. There wasn't a sound to be heard either. After a couple minutes, crickets started chirping again and an owl hooted somewhere out in the distance.

Dean took a step away and then stopped. He was having trouble taking his eyes off the lake. Sam was the same. Knowing that something was out there and that they couldn't see it was disconcerting. "I guess I won't be going swimming after all."

Sam laughed. "Really? After all that, that's what you're thinking about?"

"What? I can't! Anyway, brainiac, what was it? What's out there?"

"Damn, Dean, I have no idea. Out here? I can't even get online to look for ideas..."

"Well... As long as it stays in the lake and we stay out of the lake, we're good. Right?"

"I guess?"

Dean finally turned away and started up the hill back toward camp. Sam took a last look out at the lake and followed behind. Once back at the clearing Dean told Sam he was going to take a quick walk around the perimeter and disappeared into the woods. Sam double checked the tent and their gear. Nothing was amiss.

When Dean got back, Sam was leaning against the downed tree, deep in thought. "So...we should probably take turns keeping watch, since we have no idea what we're dealing with here. You first." Dean said.

"Me? Why me?"

"Because I'm older and I said so." Dean smirked at his brother. Sam eyed him and then smacked his fist into his open palm. "Really? What are you? Ten?"

"What are you? Scared?" Sam challenged.

"Fine, baby." The guys squared off, fists at the ready. They smacked them into the palm of their other hand three times and then shot. "Damn it!"

"Always with the scissors! You're an easy mark! Well, good night Dean, don't let the bugs bite. Or the creepy lake monster either for that matter." Sam laughed his way into the tent.

"Whatever. You DO realize I let you win all the time, right? Gotta let my little brother beat me at something, otherwise you'd get all depressed at your lack of awesomeness." Dean scrambled up onto the fallen tree for a prime view of their clearing.

"Sure, Dean, whatever helps you sleep at night. Jerk." Sam called from the tent.

"Bitch."

They fell into a comfortable silence then. Dean could soon hear Sammy's breathing slow down and deepen as he fell asleep. He had no intention of waking Sammy later. He wasn't tired. Not after what just happened, anyway. So much for a nice relaxing camping trip. _Suck on that, Bobby!_


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Sam awoke to the chirping of birds and the smell of coffee. He stumbled out of the tent and looked around. There was coffee in a small cup by the fire but no sign of Dean. "Dean?" Sam turned in a circle, trying to look through all the trees. He scanned the top of the downed tree in their clearing. Nothing. "Dean!" There was a snap of a twig behind him and he whipped around, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Cool it, Sparky. Can't a man take a leak without you waking up the whole neighborhood?" Dean said, as he walked into the clearing, zipping up his fly.

"Damn it, Dean. You scared the shit out of me." Sam sat on a log next to the fire and grabbed the cup of coffee.

"What? You think I was the Fiji Mermaid come to eat your liver?" Dean chuckled and sat down on a nearby log. He picked up an MRE at his feet and handed it to Sam. "Breakfast of champions."

"Fiji Mermaid. Very funny. What is this anyway?" Sam took the proffered MRE and sniffed it, wrinkling his nose.

"Gruel. Now eat up, we have work to do today." Dean picked up another cup and sipped at it's contents.

"Work? What exactly are we supposed to do? I don't have internet access, so I can't look anything up. We don't have cell reception, so we can't call on Bobby's wealth of knowledge..." Sam took a bite of his breakfast, such as it was, raised his eyebrows in surprise and took another bite.

"Well, I happen to have Dad's journal and while you were getting your beauty rest, I've been doing what research I could." Dean pulled their father's journal out from inside his jacket and wiggled it in front of Sam.

"Beauty rest? You were supposed to get me up half way through the night to switch off."

"Yeah, well...you get grumpy if you haven't had enough sleep."

Sam's jaw clenched but he thought it better not to respond. It's exactly what his brother would hope for. "So. What have you found in Dad's journal? Anything useful?" Dean made a small frown at Sammy's lack of reprisal and Sam grinned to himself. _Point to me. _"Dean?"

"Yeah, um. There's Iara. But that seems unlikely this far north."

"Iara?"

"Yeah a Brazilian water nymph. Sings men into the water where they are forced to live the rest of their days as her lover."

"That's in Dad's journal?" Sam asked around a mouthful of food, surprised.

"Yeah, apparently there was a story spread through the hunter grapevine of someone coming across one in Mexico. Dad noted that definitive proof was never forthcoming. He has a big question mark next to it."

"Hmm. Reminds me of a Nix."

"A what now?" Dean got up and started rinsing his cup out from their cleaning water bucket.

"Something I read about in one of my elective courses at Stanford."

"Your what now?"

"Are you done?" Sam said, giving another classic bitch face to Dean's back.

"Maybe. What's a nick?"

"Nix. German water sprite. They come in male or female form. The males are shape changers and could appear as many different things. The females appeared like mermaids and could take human form. Although, as humans, they usually had some sort of tell."

"A tell. You mean like webbed toes or something?"

"Exactly. Or a slit on their necks where they had gills or whatever." Sam answered, nodding his head. He was getting right into full professor mode.

"So what's the angle of a nix?"

"Well they were sirens, too. They would lure people into the water where they would be forced to live out their days as spouses to those who had lured them in."

"Huh."

"Although some mermaids, in mermaid lore that is, weren't sirens, but guardians of an area. They would protect the creatures in their habitat, lake, what have you. Sometimes quite viciously."

"Wait." Dean held up his hand to Sam, stopping him. "Are you saying we have a mermaid? In a lake in the middle of fucking nowhere? In the pacific northwest?"

"I'm not saying that's what's down in the lake. I am saying it's _possible_ that we could have a mermaid or merman."

Dean just stared at his brother, trying to wrap his head around the idea of a mermaid...in a lake...in the forest...in Washington.

"Dean?" Dean just kept staring at him. "Dean? You okay? You hearing me?"

"Oh. I'm hearing you... That settles it."

"That settles what?" It always made Sam nervous when Dean said that.

"Finish up with your breakfast, I feel like going for a swim."

"Dean, are you out of your mind?"

Dean looked around as if looking for someone. "I don't think so."

"If you go into that water, you may not come back. What if whatever is in there grabs you? How am I supposed to save you?" Sam took the last bite of his breakfast and put the container into the fire.

"I got it all figured out. We take some rope, tie it around my ankle or waist or something and then you have the other end. If I get dragged in, you can pull me out."

"That's got to be one of the dumbest ideas you've ever had. I mean...that's right up there with your idea of how to get into Katie Lewis's pants in the ninth grade." Sam shook his head.

"Hey! I scored, didn't I?"

"Yeah and then her father, chief of police, had you busted for a drunk and disorderly!"

"Oh Sammy, it was worth every minute in that cell with Cletus. Trust me. Ahh Katie..."

"Can we get back to your stupid plan?"

"Sure. Seeing as how Chief Lewis is nowhere around...my plan is foolproof!"

_But is it Dean proof?_ Sam wondered under his breath. "Ok. Fine. I can see I won't be talking you out of this hair-brained idea of yours. Get your rope...let's go."

They gathered the rope, a waterproof flashlight, and their guns and knives. Dean grabbed a spare pair of boxer briefs and they headed down to the lake. They stopped when they got there and just watched and listened. Birds were singing and the air was still. It seemed like a perfectly normal summer day in the woods.

They walked around to roughly where they thought they had been the night before. They eventually found the prints of the elk leading into the water but not out. "This looks like the spot." Dean said. "Should we throw a rock or something out into the water? You know. Knock on the door?" Sam looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"Seriously Dean?"

"Hey, who knows. Maybe if we can get it's attention, you know ask it to come out and chat...maybe it will."

"When...ever...in our experience has anything ever gone that way?" Sam asked, looking pointedly at his brother.

"Hmm. Good point." Dean answered with one of his signature duck faces. "Okay, then, get the rope ready." Dean pulled off his boots and socks and worked on getting undressed while Sam tied one end of the rope around his waist. When he was down to just his boxer briefs, Dean tied the other end of the rope around his own waist. He gave it a good yank, making sure the knot was good and Sam did likewise at his end.

"You sure about this?" Sam asked, handing the flashlight to his brother.

"Totally." Dean walked over to the water, dipped his foot in and then stepped back.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Shit, dude, that's cold!" Goose flesh sprang across Dean's skin and he gave a shiver.

"Dean. This was your idea."

"I know, bitch, shut your piehole." And with that Dean dived right in.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean surfaced about ten feet further out. "Whoo! It's cold!" He looked back at Sammy to see him standing on shore with his feet firmly planted and a tight grip on the rope in front of him.

"You don't have to be doing this you know." Sam said, knowing full well he wouldn't change his brother's mind.

Dean rolled his eyes at his brother and turned out toward the lake. He tread water for a moment, waiting to see if his presence would cause any action. When nothing happened, he brought his flashlight around and flicked it on. He dove under and scanned around a bit with the light. It was tough trying to see anything. The water was pretty dark and murky but he thought he caught a glimpse of something off to his right.

He came up for some air and swam over in that direction. "This would be so much easier with scuba gear!" He called to Sam.

"Yeah. I'll be sure to add scuba gear to our regular trunk supplies!" Sam called back, shaking his head.

"Hey! How much rope do I have to play with, anyway?" Dean asked while making his way to the right a bit more.

Sam looked down at the rope coiled at his feet. "Maybe about twenty more feet?"

"That doesn't gi- shit!" Dean jerked in the water a bit, giving Sam a heart attack.

"Dean? Dean, what's going on?"

"Hold on, Sammy." Dean leaned back in the water and tried unsuccessfully to look at his foot. He turned back to Sam, on shore, and stuck his foot out of the water. "Sam! You see anything with my foot?"

Sam squinted a bit. "Looks like it might be bleeding. What'd you do?"

"I hit something under the water." Dean took a big breath and dove under. He shown his light around and spotted a set of antlers. He grabbed a hold of it and used it to pull himself closer. It looked like he just found the elk from last night. It seemed to still be intact for the most part. Needing some air, he pushed off, back toward the surface.

"What did you find?" Sam called.

"Looks like our elk from last night! Seemed all there, but I couldn't get a good look before I had to come up." Dean dove back down and pulled himself over again by the antlers. When he came around to the belly side of the elk, there was a gash along the underside of it's body. Dean grimaced and grabbed an edge of the flesh. He pulled it back to reveal most of the elk's soft inner organs were gone. Needing air, again, he turned and pushed off once more toward the surface. As he was kicking away, he could have sworn something grazed his cut foot.

As he broke the surface he called out to Sam. "Pull me in, bro!" He started swimming toward shore, not realizing how far out he had swum. Sam started taking in the slack as fast as he could, a worried expression on his face. Sam watched Dean as he took in the rope. He was swimming hard and then suddenly jerked to a stop.

"Dean!" Sam continued to pull in the slack until the rope pulled tight.

"Something has my ankle, man! Pull harder!" Sam could see his brother trying to put up a fight with whatever it was. Sam heaved on the rope with everything he had, putting his back into it. He dug his feet into the rocks and dirt at the lake's edge.

He never took his eyes off his brother. Dean's head ducked under the water a couple times in his struggle. As Sam pulled, he suddenly fell back on his butt, the tension going out of the rope. He looked back out to Dean and thankfully saw him swimming like mad. He got up and ran down to the lake and out into the water. He grabbed Dean by an arm and hauled him up and out.

Sam kept dragging until they were a good fifteen feet on shore, collapsing backward, his brother dropping down on top of him. Dean rolled off and threw his arms up over his face gasping for air like he'd run a marathon. Sam sat up and looked out at the lake just in time to see something slipping below the surface. He waited to see if it would reappear but nothing happened.

He turned his attention to his brother. Bruises were already beginning to appear around his ankle. Sam moved down and around so that he was kneeling at his brother's feet. He picked up Dean's foot and looked at the cut. It was a slice lengthwise across the sole of his foot. It didn't look too overly deep but it was still bleeding. He could easily fix it up with their first aid kit at camp.

"It was human." Dean said.

Sam looked over at his brother. He still had his arms across his face. "Come again?"

"Or rather, it was more human than animal." Just then there was that unearthly screech from the lake. Sam turned and Dean bolted upright. Way out in the lake was a black dot. A head Sam would guess.

"That doesn't sound that human." Sam responded. The screeching came again and both guys covered their ears.

"FUCK! KNOCK IT OFF!" Dean yelled back. At that the head dropped below the surface. "Damn! What the hell?"

Sam turned back to his brother. "What do you mean by it's more human than animal?"

Dean was jiggling his finger in his ear. "I mean, when that thing grabbed my ankle, I felt fingers...not flippers, or, or tentacles." Dean sucked in a breath and reached for his foot and ankle. "That thing has quite the grip, too. Thought it was going to crush my ankle. Also, there was a gash in the elk's belly and all the organs were missing."

"So? Why does that mean it wasn't an animal?" Sam frowned.

"Because it was a clean cut. Like with a knife."

Sam looked hard at his brother for a moment and then back down at Dean's ankle. It was beginning to swell. "I think we need to get you back up to camp so I can clean that cut on your foot. I don't want it to get infected and we can-"

There was a splash close by interrupting Sam's comment. Both guys froze and slowly brought their eyes to the lake. About ten feet out in the water was a woman. Or rather the head of a woman poking up out of the water. The guys just stared at her. She just stared at them.

"Well..." Sam quietly said. "Definitely more human than animal."


	6. Chapter 6

"Yeah, but still definitely not human. I don't like sitting here in my skivvies, Sammy. Feeling just a little exposed." Sam scooched over a bit, putting more of himself between Dean and whatever they had in the water.

It seemed to be a stand off between them, when she opened her mouth and the screeching resumed. The guys once again covered their ears, squeezing their eyes shut. She stopped almost as soon as they covered their ears. Sam slowly scanned the ground nearby. The weapons they had brought were out of reach. When he looked back out at the creature, he noticed she (it?) was also eying the weapons.

Sam raised his hands in the universal sign of 'I'm not armed and I'm not going to hurt you' and slowly stood up. The creature hissed at him. "I just want to get my brother's clothes." Sam motioned toward Dean as he spoke. Luckily Dean's clothes weren't near the guns. Sam stayed crouched over, not wanting his height to freak it out. He had no idea if the creature was tied to the water or if it could come out. He slowly backed toward the pile of clothes. When he got close, he reached behind him and blindly grabbed at the pile of things.

While this was going on, the creature kept trying to split it's gaze between the brothers. Dean raised his hands as well, since it seemed to be working for Sam, and slowly sat up. He looked down at his ankle and couldn't hide a shiver. It was still early enough in the morning that the sun hadn't had the chance to warm the small valley. He was freezing. A chill ran through him and he sucked in a pained breath when his ankle moved. He quickly looked up at the creature. He hated showing weakness. It seemed to be focused on his ankle. Great. It had already singled out the weak one of the pack.

Sam made his way back to his brother and crouched down. "Here, man, get these on." Dean grabbed the shirt and pulled it on, grabbed his spare boxers and stopped.

"I can't do this with her watching!" Dean groused.

"Seriously? Now you develop modesty? Because a monster is eye-balling you?" Sam turned a bit to look at his brother who was sitting there, giving the creature the stink eye. "Do you need a hand?"

"What? No! I think I can handle changing my own underwear! "

"I meant, do you need a hand up?" Sam sighed. He backed up along Dean's side and grabbed his arm, hauling him to his feet. He stayed there, providing support for Dean's bad ankle.

Dean sighed. "I gotta turn around, Sammy." Sam rolled his eyes but stayed on Dean's left and turned with him, but kept his focus on the creature. Dean hopped on his right foot, holding his injured foot up off the ground. As Dean struggled out of his wet boxer briefs, he lost his balance and instinctively put his foot down. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit!"

"Take it easy, man. Nice and slow. It's just watching."

"Hope you're enjoying the show, ya perv!" Dean called back over his shoulder. Having finally gotten the wet boxers off, he was working on getting the dry pair on. He leaned his weight into Sammy and worked them on over his bad foot. Staring hard at the ground, he put the toes of his left foot down and jumped his right foot up and into the boxers. "Fuck, that hurts! Sam, I gotta sit back down." Dean said as he pulled the underwear up.

Sam helped ease his brother to the ground and got his jeans for him. While Dean worked on getting them on, Sam thought he'd try his hand at communicating. "What are you?"

"Nice intro, bro...you're a natural." Dean groaned.

"Shut up." Sam said out the side of his mouth. "My name is Sam and this is Dean." The creature tilted it's head but never took it's eyes off Dean and his injury. It's eyes had an iridescent sheen to them and they made Sam think of the inside of an oyster shell. It's hair was long and dark brown, passing beyond it's shoulders and into the water. The colors in it's eyes started swirling and it opened it's mouth. Sam started to cringe, expecting more of the ear splitting screeching. Instead, it let out some sort of warm warbling sound, causing Sam to tilt his own head back at her.

She raised her hands up out of the water and brought them toward herself. She kept repeating the motion and Sam realized she was wanting them to come to her. He noticed there was a very fine webbing between her fingers. It was so thin, it verged on the edge of translucent. It went only to about her first knuckles on each hand. She made the warbling sound again, breaking Sam out of his trance.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I need to get my brother back to camp. He needs some first aid for his foot and ankle." She seemed to get more insistent but made no further move toward them as Sam helped Dean back to his feet.

Sam wrapped his arm around Dean and he draped his arm across Sam's shoulders. They made their way over to their guns and other supplies and then started the slow walk back up the hill to their camp. As they entered the trees, Sam turned back. The creature let out a short screech and turned and dove under the water, headed back out into the lake.

"Dude! I said, are you coming?" Dean sounded exhausted and pissed. His usual injured personality.

Sam became aware of the fact that he had been frozen to the spot and lost in thought. "Sorry. Yeah, yeah, let's go."

Back at camp Sam eased Dean down onto one of the logs near the fire. He built the fire up a bit as Dean was still shivering and then went to retrieve their first aid kit and some of their boiled drinking water. Sitting on the log next to his brother's, Sam lifted Dean's foot to his lap via his calf. He opened the kit and handed his brother a little packet. "Ibuprofen. Take them."

Dean ripped open the packet and popped the tabs into his mouth. "So...AH! Damn it! Careful!"

"Quit being such a baby! I haven't even started yet!" Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. He grabbed the water and poured some out into one of their coffee cups and, dipping a cloth into it, started cleaning the bottom of Dean's foot. "The cut on the bottom doesn't look too bad. It's already stopped bleeding and isn't that deep. It's gonna hurt like a bitch to put any weight on it, and that's aside from the, I assume, sprained ankle." Sam opened another packet and wiped the cut down with an antiseptic wipe. They had some wound glue and he used it to glue the wound shut and held it in place with a few butterfly bandages. He enclosed the whole mess with some gauze and then looked at his brother. "Here comes the fun part. NOW is when you get to be the baby."

Dean looked at his brother, knowing what was coming. "Just do it, man, and get it over with." Sam needed to make sure nothing was broken and, out in the middle of nowhere, the only way to do that was to physically manipulate his foot and ankle. Sam quickly, but gently, felt Dean's ankle and moved his foot back and forth.

"AHHH! Fuck it, Sammy!... Damn man!"

"I swear, you're such a baby, Dean." Just then a screech could be heard from down at the lake.

"So, what do you think we have down there?" Dean asked, trying to take his mind off the mind numbing pain of his ankle.

"I don't think it's broken." Sam said as he got out an ace bandage to wrap his brother's ankle with. "And I don't think, Dean. I know. I know what we have down there."

"Oh really? You speak screech now?"

"No. But I know a tail when I see one. I think we have a mermaid."

"God, Sammy. You can't be serious. ...Seriously?" The more Dean looked at his brother, the more he realized he wasn't messing around..

"There. Keep it elevated." Sam said as he stood and set Dean's foot on the log he had been sitting on. "Wish I had some ice for the swelling." Sam walked out of Dean's site and came back with a banana for each of them. "As we were headed back up here, I turned for a final look at the creature. Just as I turned, it dove out into the lake. It was a mermaid, Dean. Or, at least, what every kid grows up thinking a mermaid is."

"How, Sammy? How is it that we can't take a normal vacation? Like normal people?"

"I guess because we aren't normal people, Dean."


	7. Chapter 7

Dean slid back off the log and lay on the ground, keeping his foot up on the log, trying to get more elevation. As he lay there Sam busied himself getting them something for lunch. "So, what do you think a mermaid is doing in the pacific northwest, in the middle of nowhere?"

Sam stood over him, looking down at him and his foot for a moment and then was out of sight again as he continued his lunch prep. "You got me, Dean. Maybe she's indigenous...born here?"

"Seriously? Nah, man! Mermaids live in the ocean!"

"Oh, and you've met many mermaids, have you?" Sam came over and nudged him in the ribs with his foot. "Sit up." Dean struggled back into an upright position, propped his back against another log he pulled over. Sam handed him a plate of beans and rice. "Spicy, just the way you like it."

"Thanks Sammy."

They fell into silence as they ate, each lost in his own thoughts on mermaids and old growth forests.

"Mernado!" Dean suddenly blurted out. He had a huge grin on his face.

"Excuse me?" Sam didn't quite catch what he had said.

"That's how she got here! Mernado!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't you watch t.v.? Sharknado?" Upon seeing his brother's blank face Dean enlightened him. "Water tornadoes dump man eating sharks on an unsuspecting town? C'mon, man! You need to keep yourself abreast of current events!"

"Dean, I hardly think a B rated movie counts as current events."

They fell into silence again as Dean had another helping of Sam's beans and rice and a bottle of water.

"Mericane!" Sam gave his brother a bitch face. "You know...mermaid infested hurricane? Well in this case only one mermaid, but you get the picture." Sam didn't offer a response. "Seriously...you have any better ideas?"

Sam thought for a moment. "Well, if you want to play Let's-come-up-with-the-most-implausible-scenario-possible game, then...how about...she got scooped up in the bucket of a forest fire fighting plane and dumped here during a forest fire."

Dean just looked at his brother like he was totally disappointed in him. "Why would the plane go all the way to the ocean when there's a lake right here? Can you please be serious?" Dean got offered another bitch face but he was too busy licking his plate clean to notice.

Sam took their plates and spoons and washed them down and cleaned up. "Sammy?" Dean called to him a few minutes later.

"Yeah?"

"Come here and help a dude out."

Sam came over frowning. "What's wrong?"

"I need to take a leak, bro. Help me up."

Sam sighed with a grin and helped his brother up and over to the trees. On the way back to the site, Sam scrutinized Dean's ankle. "I don't like the look of your ankle. The swelling doesn't seem to be going down."

Dean looked down at his ankle once he was back at the campfire. "Well we only have R.C.E."

"What?"

"RCE...Rest, Compression and Elevation. There's no I in our rice." Sam pursed his lips together in thought. "We could go back down to the lake." Dean offered.

"Why? So we can listen to the mermaid screech at us some more?"

"No, man, that water was cold! It's probably the closest thing we have to ice out here."

"But Dean..you go in that water and we run the risk of her snatching you again."

"Listen. You set up a log right close to the water where I can sit and just rest my foot and ankle in the water. It doesn't have to be deep. How can she get me without me seeing her coming a mile away?"

Sam thought about it for a moment. "I don't like it, but I don't see what other choice we have. You really do need to get some ice on that." He sat there, arms folded across his chest. Even though he had just agreed with his brother, Sam sat unmoving.

"So? You gonna sit there all day or help me down to the lake?"

"Just because I agree with you doesn't mean I like it." Sam sighed and pushed himself off the downed tree he had been leaning against. "You stay here while I go down and set up a log or something for you." Sam headed done the hill toward the lake without a backward glance.

"Okay. I'll just wait here then!" Dean called after his brother with a grimace at his ankle. He had been hiding how bad it was from Sam. If it was just a sprain, it was the worst he had ever had. His ankle was throbbing and he couldn't wait to dunk it in the cold water of the lake. Swelling aside, he was hoping the cold water would act as a numbing agent to the pain. Screw the mermaid and the tornado she rode in on.

At one point Dean heard the screech of their mermaid and Sammy yelling at it to shut it's cakehole. Dean was so proud.

Sam came back a few minutes later. "Okay, you ready?"

"Born." Sam wrapped an arm around his brother's back and hooked his hand under the far armpit and lugged Dean to his feet.

"You know what?" Sam asked as he turned his back to his brother. "Just wrap your arms around my neck or this will take all day."

"Screw this! I can walk!"

"Dean...just do it!"

Dean grumped but did as he was asked. Sam crouched down in front of him and he wrapped his arms around Sammy's neck. Sam reach up and grabbed Dean's upper arms and jerked up on him as he stood up, effectively pulling him up onto his back.

"Woo! Piggy-back ride! Go horsey!" Dean squealed in Sam's ear.

"Shut it, Dean, or I swear I'll drop you." Sam started off down the slope and into the trees.

Dean kept quiet on the way down to the lake. Not because he couldn't think of about fifty smart ass things to say to his brother, but because he really could only focus on the pain in his ankle.

When they got down to the water's edge, Sam gently lowered his brother to the ground, holding his shoulder so he didn't lose his balance and fall. Dean jerked away from his brother and sat down to roll up his pantlegs. Dean was never one to show injury or weakness, even to his brother, if he could help it. Once his pants were rolled up out of the way, he hopped over to the log Sammy had set up about a foot out into the water.

It was bliss. He sat down on the log and let his feet into the water in front of him. Looking out into the lake, he didn't see her. The water at his feet was only about eight inches deep. There was no way she was going to be grabbing him without him knowing about it. He sat there for about fifteen minutes while Sam went back up to the camp site to tend to the fire pit. His ankle was already numbing out, just as he'd hoped.

Out of nowhere, the mermaid's head popped up out of the water not ten feet away. She let out a short screech and Dean covered his ears. "Damn, woman! I don't speak screech, alright?! Shut it!"

Sam came back down out of the trees at that moment and saw her out in the water. "What does she want?"

"How the hell should I know? A dictionary?" Dean lowered his hands when it was evident she wasn't going to scream at them anymore. He felt a tickle at his feet and looked down. "Sam, there's nothing in this lake that will bite me, is there?"

"Other than the mermaid? No."

"Cause I just felt something swim past my foot." Dean was leaning over, scrutinizing the water at his feet.

"Probably just a minnow." Sam answered as he walked across the shore toward Dean. Just then, Dean flew into the water. It looked as if something had grabbed his feet and just yanked him out into the lake. His arms flew up and out and as he went in, his head smacked the log hard enough that Sam heard the hollow 'thunk' from fifteen feet away. "Dean!" Sam ran toward the log, frantically searching the lake for any signs of his brother.

Dean felt something, very much like rope, wrap around his good ankle and give a hard tug. He flew off the log and into the water. He felt his head bounce off the log on the way in. It must have knocked him pretty loopy, because he could have sworn he heard voices: "...save...not harm...me free..." It was a very beautiful and melodic voice. He felt as if he could listen to it all day but his chest was really starting to hurt and it was very distracting.

"Dean!" Sam yelled again. How long could his brother stay under? Just as he thought that, Dean came sputtering to the surface about twenty feet out in the lake.

Dean realized his chest hurt because he wasn't breathing and he wasn't breathing because he was under water. His head cleared in seconds and he frantically swam for the surface. He gasped for air as his head broke free of the water. The mermaid surfaced a few feet away and screeched at him. "Damn it! Stop!" Dean yelled at her. He could have sworn that she gave him a Sammy-classic bitch face and she swam over, put her hands on his head and dunked him back below the surface.

"I won't harm you." The mermaid said, in perfectly fine english. "Please, stop struggling."


	8. Chapter 8

Dean's eyes flew open under the water and he was looking at the mermaid not a foot in front of him. She smiled at him and it wasn't very pleasant. Who knew mermaids had so many teeth. _The better to chew on elk liver, my pretty. _Dean thought. He shook the thought out of his head and swam for the surface again.

As soon as he saw his brother's head, Sam was yelling. "Dean! Are you okay? Has she hurt you?"

Dean looked over at his brother who was working on getting his shoes off. Probably with the notion of diving into the lake to save him. "Whoa, little brother! Hold up! I'm fine!" Sam stopped mid untie and looked out at Dean. "She's talking to me!"

"She's what?"

"Get the water out of your ears, Sammy! She's talking to me! Under the water! I can understand her under the water!" As he was saying this, his head was pulled from view and under the water again. Sam let out an exasperated sigh.

"Why do you keep swimming away? I mean you no harm."

"I blubbb blubber blub blub." Dean started talking back without a thought and started choking on the water. He swam back to the surface, where she joined him. As he gasped in the air, he said "Because I can't breathe under water!"

She pointed down and dropped below the surface. Dean sighed and dunked his face under the water. He spotted her a few feet away. True to mermaid form. She had the tail of a fish and the upper body of a very voluptuous female. Dean grinned. She tilted her head to the side.

"My name is Shilassa Praeveekt. Please let me touch you." She moved toward him and he instinctively back pedaled.

He raised his head out of the water, taking a breath. She surfaced nearby and tilted her head again, frowning at him. He was gathering that the head tilt was her way of questioning his actions. "My name is Dean and touch me? What do you mean you want to touch me? Dude, I don't normally consort with, ahh, you know..."

She again pointed to the water and he slipped his head under.

"Dean...all true sons and daughters of Poseidon can heal. If my _prakash_ is correct, then I am a true daughter of Poseidon and can heal your foot."

Dean frowned at her. He had no clue what this prakash thing was she was talking about. She motioned for him to come closer. He went for air instead. As he was gulping air at the surface, he felt her grab ahold of his ankle. "Agh! Damn it!" He tried getting away but her grip was strong and being out in the water, he had no leverage.

Dunking his head back under the water, Dean could see her gripping his ankle firmly in both hands. Her eyes were closed and a look of concentration was spread across her face. Suddenly a bright light flared up around his ankle and out from under her hands. Dean gasped and ended up sucking in a mouthful of water.

Sam, paced back and forth on shore. It drove him nuts not knowing what was going on out in the lake. Every time Dean's head went below the surface, Sam feared it was for the last time. This last time had him worried as Dean had let out a grunt of pain before going under again. Finally Dean's head came up again, but it was hanging loose on his neck. He looked unconscious. Dean's body was moving awkwardly toward shore and Sam realized that he was being carried.

When Shilassa had gotten him as close to shore as she could she let him go. Sam waded out into the water and grabbed his brother in a very possessive fashion. He pulled him back to land and lay him on his side. He smacked Dean's back a few times and Dean started coughing up water and sucking in lungfuls of air. Dean rolled onto his back and grinned at his brother. That was not the expression Sam was expecting and it caught him completely off guard.

"Dean? You okay?"

"Yeah man. Totally." Dean sat up and looked down at his foot as if he had never seen such a thing before.

Sam looked down at it too. "Swelling seems to have gone down. I guess being in the cold water did it some good." He observed.

Dean just shook his head. "No, bro, it was her." He pointed out to the lake and when Sam followed he saw the mermaid out there watching them intently.

"What do you mean?" Sam noticed the bandage he had put on the cut on the bottom of Dean's foot was coming off. He reached down and started pulling it the rest of the way off. He'd need to clean it again and get a new bandage on it.

"She healed my ankle, bro. There was a light and heat and then I choked on water." Dean chuckled.

"You sure you weren't already choking on the wa-" Sam stopped mid comment when he had gotten the gauze off and realized the cut on Dean's foot was gone. The skin was smooth and injury free.

Dean pulled his foot up and turned it in his hands to look at his sole. He grinned again and called out to the mermaid in the lake. "Thanks!" She screeched a reply.

Sam cringed. "So, you can understand her under the water?"

"Yup." She motioned to them to come out to her. "I'm already wet, I'll go." Dean coughed again.

"Are you sure you're ready? You sucked in quite a bit of water." Sam stood up and called out to the mermaid. "How about you talk to me for a bit? You practically drowned my brother!" She shook her head no and crossed her arms. Sam chuckled a bit and looked down at Dean. "Stubborn thing, isn't she?"

He held a hand out to Dean and helped him to his feet. Dean waded out into the water again, this time staying close enough to shore that his feet touched the rocks on the bottom. He crouched down until his head went under.

"I'll only talk to you. Not your subservient female." Dean whipped his head up out of the water laughing riotously.

"What's so funny?" Sam called to him.

Once Dean could restrain himself he answered. "I'm Mulder and you're the long haired woman!" He started laughing again. Shilassa had surfaced with him and did the whole head tilt thing again.

Sam made a face and said to the mermaid, "I'm not a female. I'm his brother! We're brothers! Human males will, on occasion, grow their hair longer."

"Yeah. Shilassa, was it?" The mermaid nodded her head. Dean continued. "Shilassa, this is my brother Sam. Sam, meet Shilassa." Sam smiled in a perturbed way. She nodded her head and smiled and then went under again. Dean went down after her.

"I will still only speak with you. I don't like the other one. He's wrong." It was Dean's turn to tilt his head. "I can not put it into words, so I will not try. I need you to help me. Free me. Will you help me?" Dean frowned at her and had to go up for air again.

When she surfaced he asked her "Free you? From what? How can we help you? I don't understand. Isn't this your home?"

She dropped below the surface again. Dean sighed. This was already getting old. If only there was a better way to do this. He went under again. "I was taken, when I was just a hatchling, from my home by an evil man. He was a wizard and thought he could gain the secret to eternal life by having me." She rambled on quickly, trying to say as much as she could before Dean had to surface again. "At first, he did terrible experiments on me. He eventually came to realize, though, that he was learning nothing that would help him gain the immortality that he sought and he left me here." She paused, looking intently at Dean. "I haven't seen him since and that was a very long time ago."

Dean finally came up for air and Shilassa followed. "So you've been here, in this lake, since you were a baby?" He asked. She nodded at him. "You are alone. You were kidnapped, basically." She nodded again. "Sammy! You catching all this?" Dean called over his shoulder.

"Most of it. You can fill me in later."

"So, a wizard? I thought those were a thing of fairy tales. A sorcerer maybe? A male witch?" Dean was thinking out loud now. "How long have you been here? When was this? Maybe we can find him. And where did he take you from? I mean, where was your home? Do you even know?"

"Slow down, Dean." Sam said from shore. "You'll confuse her with so many questions at once."

"Sorry, Sam, but I'm getting cold and I'm turning into a prune out here!" Dean shivered a bit and Shilassa looked at him with concern. She went under and, after a big breath, Dean followed.

"My prakash let's me know where home was. It is in the ocean, southwest of this land mass we are currently on. I have been here for many of your years. One hundred and thirty-seven of your winters." Dean's eyes got huge. "I doubt this male-witch, as you call him, is alive. He would have died many winters ago. I just want to go home to my people. Will you help me?"


	9. Chapter 9

Dean surfaced again and shivered. He wasn't sure if it was the cold or one of those chills that will occasionally run down your spine. When Shilassa came up, Dean answered. "Listen, I'm freezing. I have to get back to camp for a bit and warm up by the fire. I'll talk to Sammy and tell him your story and we'll get back to you. Okay?"

Shilassa looked to think about it for a minute and then nodded her head. Dean nodded back and started wading out of the lake.

"What's up?" Sam asked as he threw a towel at Dean. It was only a small hand towel, but it was all they had. This wasn't the best planned trip they had ever been on.

"I told her I had to warm up. I'm freezing!"

"Yeah. I'm thinking I'm glad she doesn't want to talk to me."

"Yeah? Stow it. You're just jealous."

Sam grinned, shook his head, and started up the trail toward the campsite. Dean watched him go for a minute. The mermaid said she didn't like Sam; said he was 'wrong'. Dean wondered if she could somehow sense the demon blood in him. He thought back to the directive his father had given him before he died and what he may have to do. Dean shook his head as if that would clear the troubling thoughts away. "No."

Sam stopped and looked back. "What?"

"Nothing." Dean called and jogged to catch up.

Once at the site, Sam stoked the fire and Dean sat himself down nearby, watching the steam start to rise from his jeans as the heat got to them. "So what's up with the mermaid? Fill me in."

"Well...she looks pretty, um, perky for 137 years old." Dean grinned to himself.

"Whoa, really?"

"Yup. Said she'd been in the lake for 137 of our winters, so they must track time differently under the water."

"I would never have guessed a lifespan like that!"

Sam was getting all excited and Dean rolled his eyes at him. "Don't geek out on me, Cousteau." Dean shook his head. "Anyhow, according to her, she was kidnapped when she was just a baby by a wizard and brought here. He did all sorts of experiments and stuff on her, hoping to find the secret to eternal life."

"A wizard?"

"Yeah, I'm guessing a man-witch." Dean, again, chuckled at himself. This time it was Sam who rolled his eyes.

"What? I'm hilarious!" Sam remained stone faced. "So, ah, she wants us to take her back home."

"Home? Where's home?"

"Seemed like she was trying to tell me somewhere off the coast of..." Dean's voice trailed off.

"Dean? Coast of where?" Sam looked questioningly at his brother. Dean had frozen, mouth hanging open, staring over Sam's shoulder. His eyes were as big as saucers and his open mouth slowly morphed into a sly grin. Sam slowly turned to see a naked woman standing at the edge of the clearing.

Sam leaned in toward Dean and harshly whispered, "Maybe you could try thinking with the head above the belt?"

Dean cleared his throat and the smile slid from his face. "Uh, Shilassa?" The woman nodded her head. Sam hopped up and turned toward the tent. When he did so she jumped back into the trees.

"Oh, ah, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I just want to get you something to cover up with." Sam explained, holding his hands out in front of himself to show he had no ill intentions. He didn't move, waiting for her to come back. Slowly, Shilassa took a step back into the clearing and nodded her head.

Sam went into the tent and came back a minute later with one of his flannel shirts. He made a sheepish grin and walked over, trying desperately not to look at her nakedness but hand her the shirt at the same time. Dean couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's awkwardness.

Having finally succeeded in the transfer of his shirt, he turned and motioned to the fire. "Please come sit with us."

She hesitated and then motioned for Sam to lead the way. Dean didn't blame her. He wouldn't want that sasquatch at his back either, if he didn't already know he was just a gentle giant.

She came over to the fire and looked around at the logs arranged in a rough circle. She looked over at Dean and smiled. "Come make yourself comfortable." Dean said to her, holding his arms out at the various logs. She nodded her head and then came over and sat on Dean's lap. Dean, still holding his arms out, shot Sam a 'help me' look over her shoulder. Sam was doing his best to contain what surely would have been quite the guffaw. So Dean awkwardly shifted her so that she was sitting on his right leg and he could see her face.

"So. Here we are. Didn't know you had legs." Dean seemed uncomfortable and Sam was loving it. This has to be the first time he had ever seen his brother not easy with the idea of a half naked woman sitting on his lap.

Shilassa looked down at her legs. "So you can transform your tail into legs?" Sam more accurately asked.

She nodded her head. "Wait. If you can grow legs, why are you asking for our help? Just walk out of here and hitch a ride." Dean said. Sam smiled at his brother. Dean was busy trying to figure out what to do with his hands. He finally settled for putting them on his hips and gave Sam a look that said he would so be getting it later.

Shilassa opened her mouth to answer and screeched at them. Dean leaned back and away and Sam cringed at the sound. She quickly shut her mouth and looked around. She finally waved her arm through the air, arching it across the sky above her head. "You can only change at night?" She shook her head no and passed her arm across the sky again. "You can only change during the day." Dean guessed again. She let out an exasperated huff. She started looking around again and suddenly grabbed Dean's hand from his thigh and yanked it forward, almost sending both of them into the fire.

She held Dean by the wrist and tapped his watch. "Oh!" Sam got it. "You can only make the change for a certain length of time?" She let go of Dean's wrist nodding enthusiastically. Dean rubbed his wrist with his other hand, Sam noticed. She must have quite the grip.

Sam looked around their camp site self consciously. "Would you like something to eat? Or a drink?" Shilassa nodded. "Something to eat?" She hesitated and then nodded again with a small smile.

"Oo, Sammy! Get her one of my pies." Dean said with a huge grin on his face.

"Dean, I don't think.."

"Just do it! What else are you going to give her? An MRE?" Sam sighed and got up and went over to the green cooler and dug around in it. He came up holding one of Dean's mini pies. He took it out of the box and stood there like he wasn't sure what to do next. "Just give it here, man!" Sam handed it over. "Here, see? You gently lift it up out of the tin and then eat it." Dean did as he said but handed the small pie over to Shilassa.

She turned the pie this way and that and finally took a bite. She chewed it a few times and then stopped. She then turned her head and spit it all out, making a horrible face. Sam started laughing and Dean made a look as if someone had just spit on his car and called her a Prius. Sam offered her a cup of water, which she quickly took and downed. "Sorry it wasn't to your liking." Sam said as an apology. He went back to the cooler and pulled out a banana. She immediately smiled and reached for it. As she ate the banana, peel and all, Sam gave Dean a smug look which Dean tried very hard to ignore.

"So, um, you're related to the big man himself?" Dean asked. When she just looked at him in confusion, he clarified, "Posiedon?" She nodded but then wavered her hands in the air.

"You think so?" Sam guessed. She nodded. "Makes sense I suppose since she was taken when she was a child how would she know?"

"No, no." Dean said. "She said something about knowing she was related because of .. um.. a pray cash or something? I don't know. It didn't make any sense."

Shilassa opened her mouth again and again the guys covered their ears. She huffed in frustration and looked around the clearing. Her eyes settled on the green cooler and she hopped up and went over to it. Picking it up, she dumped it's contents all over the ground. "Hey! My pie! What the hell, man?" Dean freaked. She dragged it over to Dean and motioned to put something in the cooler. "What? What do I put in it? You just dumped it all out. You want me to put it all back now?" Dean growled in frustration of his own. "Help me out here Sammy."

Sam was watching the whole thing, rubbing his chin in thought. Shilassa motioned to the now empty water cup and then the cooler over and over. "Wait! Fill the cooler with water..." Shilassa nodded very enthusiastically at him and came over and put her hand behind Dean's head and gave him a shove toward the cooler.

"Oh, hold up! Man! I just got dry and warm!" Dean complained as Sam got their jug of water and began filling the cooler to the brim with water. "Sammy! You can't be serious!"

"Well, you are her favorite, Dean." Sam grinned at him. Dean's jaw clenched and those little tendons twitched.

"You will _so_ pay." Dean growled under his breath much to his brother's amusement.

Sam finished filling the cooler and stepped back. "So, ah, I guess just kneel down in front of the cooler like you do the toilet after a particularly bad night of drinking."

"Oh you're hilarious." Dean groused as he knelt down in front of the cooler, setting his hands on the side edges.


	10. Chapter 10

"So...how we doin this?" Dean mumbled. He contemplated the cooler full of water for a moment. He had just gotten dry, too. He pulled off the dry tee shirt he had recently put on. If he was going to do this, he wasn't going to soak another shirt in the process.

"Well, I guess, whenever she has something to say, you dunk your head in the cooler." Sam offered.

"Fantastic." Dean looked over at Shilassa, who was perched on the log he had recently vacated. The shirt Sammy had given her was showing a lot of thigh. Dean quickly looked away. _The hell, man? She's not even human!_

"So let's start with the, uhhh, pray cat?" Sam offered.

"No. Dude, it was a pray cash." Dean was going to add a snarky comment but Shilassa shoved the back of his head and dunked him into the cooler.

"The prakash is something all of my kind get when they come of age. It is of my father and his father before him. It is to know."

Dean shot up out of the cooler, gasping for air. He shook his head to get the wet hair out of his face and got a satisfied grin when he saw Sam jerk back from the spray of water.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Dean...what did she say?"

"Oh that the prakash is something they get when they come of age and it is to know. I don't know man."

"It is to know..." Sam repeated thoughtfully. "You get it when you come of age...like puberty?" Seeing Shilassa's confused look he elaborated. "Puberty is what it's called when a human child starts to look more like an adult. Growing facial hair, etc...a boy's voice will change and become lower..." Shilassa smiled and nodded her head.

"So, huh, some sort of knowledge they get when they come of age..."

"Like a download?" Dean asked.

"Like a what?"

"A download. C'mon! You're the geek here, you should know what a download is!"

"I do! I'm just surprised you know what one is."

"Oh, you're on a roll tonight, boy."

"But that makes sense. I've seen it in the lore before, for other creatures. Knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation. Is that what you mean, Shilassa?"

Shilassa motioned to the cooler, Dean heaved a sigh and dunked his head in.

"Yes. At our time of change we get memories of our fathers and their fathers. According to my prakash, I am a descendant of Poseidon himself. As such, I should have certain powers. Like the healing I displayed earlier."

After spitting out a mouthful of water, Dean relayed her words to Sam. "That's fascinating! Dean can you imagine the possibilities if we could pass knowledge down like that?"

"Calm down, Sammy. You're geeking out in front of our guest." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. Dean grinned and looked at Shilassa. "So, daughter of Poseidon, what other powers do you have?"

Shilassa opened her mouth to answer and made a pointed look at the green cooler before Dean. "Ugh. Why can't I just keep my mouth shut sometimes?" He dunked his head in and she answered.

"Only direct descendants have knowledge of war and it's related arts. Also my legs. Not all of my kind can transform their tails into legs. Do you not get prakash? How do you know anything?"

Dean came up and sputtered. "We don't get a prakash, no. We go to school and are taught things. Our parents teach us lots of stuff too." She nodded her head. Dean turned to Sam. "She says only descendants know of war and it's arts. So I assume she can fight, or at least has knowledge of fighting. Also, only descendants can change into this leggy form here." He motioned to her rather shapely legs.

"Huh. So, you want us to take you home. How long can you keep the legs? Do you need to be in water? Or kept wet?"

"Dang. Slow down with the questions, Cousteau."

"Well the more I ask, the more she can answer per trip to the cooler." Sam made one of his know-it-all faces at Dean.

"Okay. Point." Dean didn't even wait but went ahead and lowered his head into the cooler.

"Yes. If it would please you. I would like assistance to get home. My people could compensate you in some way. I can stay in human form for up to five hours, but really shouldn't go over three at best. I should be in water at night to sleep but during the day, if I'm out of water, just kept wet."

"Shit, man, it'll take us forever to get out of this place and back to our car with her. Hell how do we keep her wet IN my Baby?" Dean gasped after coming up for air. He relayed her info to Sam. "We're going to have to come up with some sort of plan to get her to the car, dude." Dean frowned and started counting on his fingers.

"Six, Dean."

"What Sammy?" Dean asked, distracted, not looking up from his hand.

"It took us about six hours to hike in here."

Dean quickly lowered his hand and smirked at Shilassa. "Pft. I knew that. Was just seeing if Sam did."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Shilassa, where is home for you? I mean, where do you want us to take you, assuming we can successfully get you out of the forest here."

Shilassa went to shove Dean's head back in the cooler and he held up his hands. "Whoa, there, sister. I know the drill by now." He lowered his head and she relayed some sort of answer. "She says her home is off shore from Cisco by the Bay...?" Dean said after coming up and spraying more water on Sam with a shake of his head.

"San Francisco?" Dean shrugged his shoulders, as did Shilassa. "Be right back." Sam got up and popped into the tent. Dean looked briefly at Shilassa and shrugged. Sam returned with his phone.

"Um, Sammy? Don't think you're going to be getting any service with that out here."

Sam pursed his lips at Dean. "I know, Dean, but I have an atlas downloaded that I can look at offline."

"You're such a geek."

"What?"

"Nothing. Please, carry on." Dean shook his head in wonder at his geek brother.

Sam knelt down next to Shilassa and brought up a map of the western seaboard. He pointed to a portion of it. "This is San Francisco. Is this the area you mean?"

Shilassa leaned in, looking curiously at the phone and then shrugged. Sam scratched his head at a loss.

"Hold up. Sam, you still have those pictures Bobby sent us when he was on that case out at Alcatraz last year?"

Sam frowned. "Yeah, but I -"

Dean grabbed the phone from Sam and started messing with it. After a minute he held out the phone to Shilassa. "Is this where your home is?" The small screen held a picture of the shore of San Francisco as taken from Alcatraz. Shilassa beamed and nodded her head excitedly.

"I don't get it? How is that better?" Sam asked, confused, as he took his phone back.

"A mermaid won't know what San Francisco looks like from the air, moron. So I gave her a view of land from the water!"

"Wow, Dean. You still manage to impress me once in a while." Dean elbowed Sam, causing him to lose his balance and fall from his crouch to his butt in the dirt.

Sam stood up and went back to his seat in thought. He finally looked over at Shilassa. "Why don't you head back down to the lake. We'll look at the maps and see what we can figure out. We'll talk again tomorrow, okay?"

Shilassa nodded her head and stood to leave. She walked around the fire toward Sam and started unbuttoning the shirt he had lent her. He jumped up holding his hands out in front of him. "Oh, no! No. Keep it, please. Humans, ahh...we wear clothing. Going without...uhh...would be seen as strange. You should...umm...probably get used to wearing it." He said it all hastily, stumbling over his words. She tilted her head to the side and then gave one quick nod of her head and then headed out down the path toward the lake.

Dean laughed. "You're such a prude, dude."


	11. Chapter 11

11

"You take care of the fire, I'll clean up from our dinner." Sam said, ignoring Dean's comment, and setting right to work.

Dean sighed and chuckled to himself. It seems the Winchester's can't go camping without some embarrassing memory for Sammy. He grabbed his t-shirt, pulled it back on, and went to work. A half hour later, they were crawling into the tent. Dean set up the lantern while Sam got their maps out. "Okay, so, it took us about six hours to get down into here..." Sam's voice trailed off as he leaned over the map.

"There." Dean said, pointing to a spot on the map. Sam focused on where Dean had pointed and scratched the scruff that was starting to grow on his chin. "We can make that in about three or four hours." Dean had pointed to a small pond just off the route they had taken on the way in. "She can pop into the pond for the night and we can sack out under the stars."

"Hmm...we can get there in three or four...but can she?" Sam looked at the map a little closer. "There's an established camping area there, too. Not sure we want to traipse into a populated area with a mermaid in tow."

Dean looked again at the spot. "What? Sam, bro, it's like three lean-tos. If we can't slip a mermaid past a couple hikers, then we're losing our touch." Dean lay back, propping his hands back behind his head, satisfied with himself.

"Okay, fine. What are we going to do about clothes for her?"

"What?"

"Dean, we can't go walking through the woods with a half naked woman." Dean looked at his brother for a moment. "No, Dean!"

"Talk about incentive though..."

Sam dropped his face into his hand. "Seriously?"

"Fine. Maybe she has clothes of her own. You ever think about that?"

"And if she doesn't?"

"Well she's already got your shirt, just give her a pair of pants too." Dean closed his eyes, not concerned.

"Dean, I think my pants might be a bit long for her."

"True, Gigantor, she's not seven feet tall like you. It's cool. She can wear my spare pair of jeans." Dean grinned a sly grin and Sam rolled his eyes.

"What about her feet? Neither of us have spare footwear."

"I'll think on that tomorrow. I'm beat man and, I think I might be getting a case of swimmer's ear." With that, Dean rolled over and was snoring within minutes.

Sam sighed. Dean so often did things by the seat of his pants. Even though they had been back together for almost a year and a half, now, it was still hard to deal with sometimes. Sam was a planner. Dean was not. Okay, that wasn't entirely true. When going after monsters, Dean always had a plan and they were always great. But everything else? He seemed to just randomly float from job to job. Sam chuckled to himself. They had had some pretty wild times, though, following Dean's ever wandering thoughts and spontaneity. Sam set the maps aside, flicked off the lantern, and rolled into his sleeping bag.

ooo

"Made you some coffee." Dean said, pointing to a cup on a rock, as Sam made his way out of the tent.

"You're up early." Sam grabbed the cup and inhaled the great aroma.

"Nah, man, you slept late. It's almost eleven."

"What? Why'd you let me sleep so late?"

"Dude, relax. If we're only going to be able to hike to that pond, we've got all day. Anyway I have almost everything packed up other than the tent and our bags."

Sam looked around the site and was impressed. There was a waiting MRE on the log next to where his cup of coffee had been. Sam looked at Dean, expectantly. "Yeah, that's for you. Eat up so we can get this day started. I'm going to go down and have a chat with our mermaid."

"Hey Dean?"

"Yeah?" Dean responded through his shirt that he was taking off.

"Question. I, um..."

"Aww, you're not gonna get all in touch with your feelings or something, are you?"

Sam made a face at him. "I was just wondering why you're helping this mermaid out."

"What do ya mean? Are you thinking we shouldn't?" Dean frowned at Sam as he draped his shirt over a log.

"No, no! It's not that! It's just...you usually gank first and ask questions later. Since when do you help monsters?"

"Sam, she's a mermaid!" Sam made a 'yeah, so' face at him. "They're like dolphins, bro, or...or...ladybugs and fireflies!"

"Dean, what are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

Dean huffed out an exasperated breath. "Some things are just...I don't know inherently good. You just don't go on a killing spree on ladybugs and fireflies. Dolphins are friendly, dude, you just don't kill them. Mermaids are the same way! I can't believe you're asking this!"

"I can't believe you are accepting her 'inherent' goodness as fact when you've never met a mermaid before." Sam made little air quotes with his fingers when he said inherent.

"You accept the inherent goodness of dolphins, don't you? I'm pretty sure you've never met one." Dean crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for an answer.

Sam huffed out his own breath. "It's because she has breasts, isn't it?"

Dean grabbed his tee he had set on the log and chucked it in his brother's face. "Seriously? You're gonna go there?"

Sam threw the tee back. "Dang, Dean, you need to do some laundry and yeah, I'm going there. I know you too well."

"Although I will admit she has a beautiful body and I fully appreciate it, might I remind you she is not human!? You think I'd bone any walking rack? C'mon, man!"

Sam put his hands up in surrender. "Okay fine. Just checking. But in all seriousness, we _don't_ know her, or her people."

"Don't worry about it." Dean pulled his colt out of the back of his pants and wiggled it in front of Sam. "Just because I'm willing to help her now, doesn't mean I'm not willing to end this whole thing in a heart beat if things go south."

Sam regarded his brother for a moment. "Okay. Good. Go have your chat with the mermaid and I'll get started with the tent, but be careful."

Dean headed out of camp. "Of course."


	12. Chapter 12

12

Sam busied himself with taking down the tent, making sure it was all done properly, as their father had taught them. He made sure it was as clean as he could get it. He folded it and rolled it neatly and slid it down into it's carry bag. He tucked the thin poles into the bag along side of it. He looked over at Dean's sleeping bag that had been hastily rolled up. Shaking his head, he unrolled it and folded it and rolled it up into a tight roll. He took it to Dean's backpack and hooked it onto the straps at the bottom.

Sam could almost lose himself in the work. It was almost like meditation. When he focused on the work, he became calm and didn't think about his brother and his feelings of guilt over their father's death. He didn't think about the yellow eyed demon and what he was up to. He didn't think about the disturbing visions he'd been having that seemed to be occurring with greater intensity and frequency. He didn't think about his dad and how, even though they had had their differences, he had loved him and he missed him.

Getting into the work took him into an almost zen-like mood and so, when the twig snapped close by, he almost had a heart attack. He jumped up from packing the cooking gear and spun around.

"Dude you're losing your touch, Sammy." Dean scoffed.

"I'm losing it? Have you looked at yourself?" Sam chuckled. "You always go hiking in just your underwear?"

Dean looked down at himself. He stood in just his boxer briefs and his boots. "Hey! It was your idea to give her my pants to wear! Shut your cake hole." Dean went over to his t-shirt that still lay on the log where it had ended up before he went down to talk to Shilassa. He pulled it on and went to his pack for his extra pair of jeans.

"So, how was your chit chat with the mermaid?" Sam asked as he resumed his packing.

"She's good to go. Said she'll be ready to leave in about an hour." Dean sat and worked at getting his boots off. "I told her our plans to hike out to that pond and she seemed okay with that." Some water trickled down into his face and he shook his head. Water sprayed out and hit Sam in the face.

Sam jerked back, closed his eyes, and clenched his jaw. When he opened them he noticed Dean was working on getting his jeans on, acting as if nothing had happened, but the smirk on his face said otherwise. He sighed and ignored it. "What about her feet? Did you ask her about that?"

"Oh, yeah, she said she has tough soles. Something about scales providing protection or whatever. Anyway, she said her feet were ok." Dean finished with his jeans and was tying up his boots. He glanced around the site. "Looks pretty good, Sammy. We about ready to go?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure what to do if she wants to talk on the hike, though. I doubt we want to lug a cooler full of water for three hours through the woods."

"Hell no. She'll just have to save it til we get to that pond. It'll give me a chance to get some this friggin water out of my ears." Dean stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around with a frown on his face.

"Thank goodness she'll only talk to you." Sam said sarcastically. He swung his finished pack up onto his back and started walking toward the lake. "You coming, Aquaman?" he called over his shoulder.

"Very funny." Dean grumbled and quickly grabbed his pack and the cooler. He did a quick 180 of the site, looking for anything they may have left behind and then jogged after his brother.

Down at the pond, there was no sign of Shilassa. Dean set his pack down against a rock and sat looking over his rifle. He broke it down and fiddled with the various pieces and then put it all back together again. He had a nervous energy, sometimes, and needed to be doing something. Just when he was thinking of breaking it down again, there was a splash in the lake. About fifty feet around the lake from where they waited, Shilassa came up out of the water. She was stark naked and, Dean slowly realized, was making her way to some clothes on a rock nearby. Sam quickly turned toward Dean, giving her privacy. Dean, on the other hand, watched every move she made.

She pulled on Sam's shirt, having never unbuttoned it the night before and then, after some work, managed to pull on his jeans. After struggling a bit with the button fly, she finally stood up and the jeans started to fall down. Dean chuckled. "Let me help you with those." He called out and walked over to where she was getting ready.

She did her head tilt thing and Dean held out his hands. "Calm down. I can get those to stay up for you. Give me a second." He reached down and unhooked his belt and started to pull it out of his jeans. She took a step back, confused. "Relax. It's a belt. It's sole purpose is to hold up loose pants." _And to deliver a hell of a whupping._ Dean thought to himself. He reached out and slowly worked the belt through the loops on her jeans. He cinched it tight and hooked it closed.

As he was working, Shilassa ran her fingers through his hair. He did his damnedest to ignore it. When he finished, he cleared his throat and stepped back quickly, almost stumbling over his own feet. "Um, that should hold them." He started back to Sam. "Alright, let's get out of here." He grabbed his pack and rifle, slung them over his shoulders, and then grabbed the cooler and started walking.

Sam turned as Shilassa walked past him, unsure of what put Dean in a mood all of a sudden, and followed the pair, bringing up the rear. They walked in silence for over an hour, when Dean turned, "Hey Sa-". He turned and came face to face with Shilassa, who had been following too close. He clears his throat again. "Excuse me." He squeezes past her and comes back to Sam.

Sam has a grin on his face he just can't hide. "What's up?"

"Um. I'm getting hungry and we never talked to her about what she eats. She didn't seem to like the MRE's." He says all this under his breath so Shilassa can't hear.

"Dean, I don't even like the MRE's. I can't blame her." Dean gave him a look. "Fine, man. I don't know. I still have a banana or two left, since we called our trip short."

"Ok. Good." Dean turned and looked back at Shilassa. "You take point, okay? I don't like the idea of having her behind me watching my ass."

"I thought you liked that sort of thing." Sam said, with another shit eating grin on his face. Dean made that look again and Sam nodded. "Alright, ya baby."

Sam headed up past Shilassa. "Okay, another little bit and we should get to a spot where we can stop for a quick bite to eat." Sam started walking and Shilassa turned and looked questioningly at Dean. He merely held out his arm, offering her the right to go ahead. She paused and then turned to follow Sam.

They stopped for a quick MRE each, about twenty minutes later. Shilassa refused the banana or anything else. They headed out again and came to the small hill overlooking the pond about two hours later. It took them a bit longer than anticipated, but they were still within the time confines of Shilassa's leg change. Sam and Shilassa held back and Dean went down to check things out.

"Ok. There appear to be two groups at the far end of the pond, where most of the lean-tos are. But there is a lean-to at this end, on the far side of the pond, that looks like it's seen better days. I say we head for that one. We'll stay well away from the other hikers." Dean reported all this upon his return. Sam looked at Shilassa who nodded her head. The three made their way through an abandoned trail, around the pond, to a dilapidated lean-to which was certainly living up to it's name.

The guys, after inspecting the lean-to, decided to just roll their bags out in the meadow grass at the edge of the pond. While setting out their sleeping bags, Dean heard a small splash and turned. He had forgotten about the mermaid in the work of deciding about sleeping arrangements. There, not ten feet away, lay his pants and Sammy's shirt in a small pile by the water's edge. Well, guess they won't have to worry about people seeing her.

They decided to skip a fire and head out early. So, after just laying around for a bit, they turned in. Dean tossed and turned. Unable to get to sleep. He eventually got up and wandered around the pond. He paused in the dark, near the other campsites, listening to the talk and laughter of the other hikers. They talked about strange things like 'human resources', 'direct deposit', and the latest gossip out of Hollywood. He couldn't even begin to grasp their conversation or their lives. He quietly moved on and came to another stop on the far side of the pond.

There were no lean-tos or campsites here. It was quiet, aside from the occasional bark of laughter from the hikers. The moon wasn't full, but it was clear enough that he could see the entire area pretty well. He hunkered down in the meadow grass and just sat looking. He attempted to clear his thoughts. Whenever they strayed toward his father, he opened a little, brown, leather bound box in his mind and stuffed the thoughts away. If they strayed toward Sammy and his freaky visions, he opened a green box in his mind and stuffed them in there. He continued in this fashion, until all those disturbing things he didn't want to dwell on, were nicely tucked away. Sam was always wanting to talk about his freaking feelings, but he found it so much easier to just hide them away and move on to the next job, the next person needing saved.

As he sat there, three deer came down the small hill to the pond not ten feet away from where he sat. He may have become a cold-hearted killer of monsters, but that didn't mean he was completely stoic about everything else. He sat and watched in wonder as they slowly picked their way down to the water's edge for a drink. His wonder quickly turned to shock when he saw a pair of arms shoot out of the water and grab the smallest doe by the head and drag it under the surface. Guess they won't need to worry about what to feed Shilassa.


	13. Chapter 13

13

The next morning Dean roused Sam around five in the morning. "Let's go, sleeping beauty. Rise and shine." Sam pulled his head out of his bag, rubbing his eyes. He glanced over and saw that Dean's bag was rolled and his pack was ready go go.

"How long have you been up, man?" Sam stretched his long arms up to the heavens.

"All night, let's go."

"You didn't sleep at all?" Sam gave him a look of concern as he made his way out of his bag.

"Yeah, man, I do that a lot. I already had a banana and an MRE. You want...umm..." He scrinched up his eyes, trying to read the smudged print on the MRE's in his hands. "...what looks like scrambled eggs? Or the, um... steak something smudged?"

Sam inwardly frowned at Dean's dismissal of the lack of sleep. "I'll take the smudged scrambled eggs. Be right back." Sam headed into the weeds to take care of business and Dean heated up the MRE.

Dean rolled Sam's bag while he ate and stowed it with his gear. "What do you think? Two hours of strong hiking will get us to the car?"

"Maybe if we didn't have Shilassa with us. I'm thinking more like three. Definitely by lunch, though." Sam took another bite and said around his food. "What are we going to feed her?"

Dean barked out a short chuckle. "Yeah, um, don't think we'll need to worry about that." He proceeded to tell Sam about her late night fishing habits.

"Dude, I'm eating here." Sam looked at what was left of his breakfast with distaste.

"Yeah? Well, so was she. I wonder how long a small doe like that will keep her for?"

Sam forced the last few bites down. "Why don't you go dunk your head and ask her?"

"I think I'm good, thanks. When was she going to be joining us?"

"I told her sunrise." Sam looked at the horizon. "Should be any minute now." He added his garbage to the small bag they had. They would toss it in a can in the larger camping area on their way by.

They sat on the ground, leaning back against their packs, and watched the sunrise. "Hey Sammy. Remember that sunrise we saw in Richmond last year?" Sam gave him a blank stare. "You know, when we were staking out that witch with the cursed ritual knife?"

Sam's face lit up. "Oh yeah! We see so few sunrises, you'd think I would've remembered that better."

There was a scuff behind them and they both whipped around to find Shilassa, dressed and standing behind them. "Guess it's time to head out." Dean said. They stood and gathered their gear. This time, Shilassa grabbed the small green cooler, offering to carry it. Dean gave her a quick nod and smile and they headed out.

It turned out Sam was closer on his guess than Dean. They made it to the parking area in almost exactly three hours. Dean dumped his gear at the trunk, leaned against his baby, and took a long pull on the water left in his bottle. Shilassa hung back, looking at the car with what appeared to be a mixture of fascination and fear. Dean dug in a pocket of his pack and pulled out his keys. He popped up the trunk, gave a quick glance around the area and then lifted up the lid on the weapon's box. He stowed their rifles, dropped the lid, and then threw their bags in on top.

He turned to Shilassa. "This is our ride." She tilted her head to the side. "We ride inside and it does all the work. Okay?" When she didn't move, Sam stepped in.

"Here, let me take the cooler and show you." He reached out and she handed the cooler over but didn't move. Sam went over and opened the back door and set the cooler down on the floor behind the driver's side. "Look, a nice comfy seat for you." He patted the seat and then backed out. He then opened his door and climbed in. "This is where I usually sit." He pulled the door shut behind him, rolled the window down, and grinned out at her. "See?"

She took a hesitant step forward, bent a little and looked into the car as if she were waiting for something to jump out at her. "Listen, if we're going to get you home, this is the way we're doing it. Climb on in, we're wasting daylight." Dean glanced down at her legs and his jeans. "And, uh, your legs aren't going to stay forever." That seemed move her a bit more. She came over and stopped at the door. "Hey. Me and Sam ride in Baby, here, every day and we're fine. You'll be fine." She crawled into the back seat hands and head first. She shifted around in there for a bit and finally got herself seated with her legs spread out across the seat. "There. That wasn't so hard, was it?" He pushed the door shut and Shilassa jumped.

"Okay. Cisco by the Bay. Next stop." Dean pulled his door shut, rolled his window down, and started up the car. He glanced back at Shilassa, who had made a small screech when the car roared to life. He shook his head with a grin and backed out of the lot.

Dean checked in the rear view mirror off and on, but Shilassa seemed to adjust to the car pretty well. As he drove, he kept his eyes peeled for a mini-mart. When he found one and pulled in, Sam gave him a questioning look. "Be right back." Dean shot at him as he hopped out of the car. Sam looked back at Shilassa and just shrugged his shoulders. Dean was back in a few minutes with a squirt bottle that he held over the seat to Shilassa.

"I'm going to make some time if I can. So you take this if, um, you need to, uh, you know, keep damp." He handed it back to her and headed back out on the road. Sam looked over at him. "What?"

"I'm impressed Dean. You thought of someone other than yourself."

Dean smirked at him. "Oh! That reminds me! Yo, Shilassa!" He called into the back. "Keep that on you, alright? Try not to douse the whole car." Sam rolled his eyes.

The brothers soon fell into the rhythm of the road. Dean flicked on the radio and lost himself driving. About two and a half hours down the road there was a pop sound followed by a kind of squishy splash sound. "What was that?" Dean asked, glancing at his brother.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't the car, was it?" Sam started looking around. The car suddenly swerved and Sam let out a grunt as he grabbed the dash. "What the hell, Dean?" He looked out the windows but could see no discernible threat.

"Shit!" Dean pulled the car to the side of the road and jumped out. He whipped open the back door and put his hands on his head. "Is that...ectoplasm or something?" Sam turned around and saw that Shilassa's legs had gone back to a tail. All around them was a wet jelly-like substance, all over the seat and the floor. Shilassa started to make her screechy speech. "Whoa, whoa! You know what? Nevermind!"

Dean went around to the trunk and dug around back there for a moment. When he came back he had the small towels they had taken camping with him. "Here! Try to...I don't know. Clean this up, would ya?!" Dean paced around outside the car for a moment and then finally got back into the car. He ran his hands through his hair.

"Deep breaths, bro." Sam said with a grin. He learned pretty quickly that Dean had an unnatural attachment to this car and to just step back and let him go. "Deep breaths."


	14. Chapter 14

Dean pulled the car back onto the road. Sam kept looking over at him, trying to judge his mood now that the backseat would probably need some major steam cleaning. Sam glanced back at Shilassa. It may even need re-upholstered. "I'm fine!" Sam looked back at his brother. "I'm fine alright! Let's just get her home." Dean groused.

Sam gave a small grin. "I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to." Dean stared hard at the road ahead. "I'm hungry. Let's stop for a bite to eat."

"I'm not sure stopping is the best idea." Sam looked again into the backseat.

"Yeah. I suppose you're right. Drive thru it is!" Dean got off the road they were on at the next town and pulled through an In N Out Burger joint. Shilassa shook her head no when asked if she was hungry, so Dean ordered for just the two of them. Sam had to chuckle at the look on the drive thru attendant's face when he caught sight of Shilassa in the backseat.

"Should we be letting people see her?" Sam asked around a french fry.

"You know people will see what they want to see. That guy will chalk it up as an amazing costume and never think about it again." Sam nodded in agreement and continued eating his fries.

"Dean, why did you get me a bacon cheeseburger?"

"Because they're awesome."

"They're clogged arteries on a bun, dude."

"You don't want yours? 'Cuz I'll eat it if you don't..." Dean's voice trailed off in hopeful anticipation.

"No. I'm too hungry not to eat it."

It got quiet as they ate and the miles passed by. After a while there was a small screech from the backseat. Sam turned back and Shilassa was holding out her squirt bottle and gave it a small shake. It was empty. "You need more water?" She shook her head no. "You're okay?" Again she shook her head no. Sam looked at her tail draped across the back seat. "You need, like, actual water to get into?" She smiled and nodded her head.

"What's up?" Dean asked, too busy with some traffic to see what was going on in the back seat.

"We need to call it a day. She needs to get into some water."

"Can it be any water? Like bath tub water? Can it be a pool? Or, does it have to be fresh water?" Dean asked as he started paying more attention to the signs at the side of the road.

Sam looked back at her. She smiled, raised her eyebrows and gave a little shake of her head. "It can be any water?" She nodded.

"Okay anything's good."

"Well we're coming up on a small town called Medford." Dean took the next exit and pulled into the first motel he saw. The parking lot seemed inordinately full. Leaving Sam with Shilassa, Dean hopped out quick and checked at the front desk. When he came back he didn't look happy.

"What's up?"

Dean fell into the seat. "They have no rooms."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Apparently the National Quilting Expo is in town this week."

"National Quilting Expo?" Sam repeated it back, rolling the words around his mouth like he'd never heard them before. "That's a thing?"

"Apparently it's a pretty huge thing. Guy said we'd be lucky to get a room anywhere in town or in any town nearby." A screech came from the back. "Cool your fins, we'll find something." Dean started up the car and started cruising the neighborhoods.

"You have an idea?" Sam asked, frowning.

"Find some place where the family is gone for a vacation or something?"

So they cruised for the next hour or so, Shilassa getting more agitated with every passing minute. Finally Dean found something. It wasn't the best solution, but it was a solution none the less. "Okay. This is it."

Sam looked around. "Yeah. This might work."

"It'll have to work."

They were in one of those neighborhoods where there was an alley that ran behind two rows of houses, making an easy place for garbage pick up without the trash cans being out on the main streets. Dean was parked about a third of the way down the alley. The homes on their right were backed with high wooden fences and they couldn't see into the yards. To their immediate left, though, the yard was edged with shrubs that were about four feet tall. Through the branches, Sam could just make out an in ground pool.

"So, what's your plan?" Sam asked. "It's not even dark yet."

"Sit tight. I'm going to get out, walk the neighborhood a bit. I'll be back." Dean got out and strolled back out the end of the alley and took the corner. About twenty minutes later, he was back. "Okay, good news. The house is currently empty."

"No one lives there?"

"No! I mean no one's home. I did hear the bark of a small dog, but no one answered the door."

"A dog. That means someone will be around sooner or later."

"Yeah, but the pool will be safe. They have it covered. So, we slip in and peel back just an edge to let her in." Dean jerked a thumb toward the back. "One of us can keep watch throughout the night. We can switch off part way through and the other one can sleep in the car."

Sam rubbed a hand down his face. "Great."

Dean grinned. "I thought so! You get first watch." Dean squeezed through the hedges and looked around. He made his way over to the pool and peeled back the thin plastic that lay on the surface of the water about four feet. He crouched down and dipped his hand in. Not bad. When he got back to the car, he opened the back door and leaned in. "Your luxury spa awaits." He then took in the tail. He stood back up and called to Sam over the roof of the car in a whisper. "Sammy!"

Sam got out of the car and looked at him over the top. "What?"

"How is she going to get over there?"

"I imagine we'll have to carry her." He answered sarcastically. He thought for a moment and then quickly added, "I'll take the tail end." He immediately leaned down to Shilassa's window. "We'll have to carry you over to the pool, okay?"

Dean ground his teeth together and cataloged this moment, in his mind, as one needing appropriate payback at a later date. He leaned down again and smiled in at Shilassa. He then went around the car to the side she was sitting on and tried to figure out how best to carry her when she was essentially naked. He noticed she had taken off Sam's shirt. If he carried her alone, like a parent carries a child, his hand would be dangerously close to...her...ahh... _Damn it, Sammy. You will pay for this!_ He was just going to do it and not think about it.

"Ready?" She nodded. He leaned in and put his left arm around her back and under her arm and, as he pulled her out, put his right arm under her tail. He walked quickly. Not only so nobody would see them, but also because he didn't want her getting any more ideas. He didn't mingle with monsters, damn it!

Sam went ahead and held the shrubs out of the way. When he got to the pool's edge, he set her down on the lip. She smiled her thanks and slid right in. Dean quickly rubbed his left hand on his thigh, trying to erase the memory of her skin from his mind. "You okay, Dean?"

"Shut up. You have first watch. I'm going to get some early shut-eye." Sam chuckled and hid himself within the shrubs.

As Dean crawled into the car and used his jacket as a pillow against the window, Sam checked out the house before him. It was a split level house with the right half being two stories. He imagined the left side was probably the garage. There was a sizable deck on the back, complete with a large grill and hot tub. There was no sign of Shilassa. Hopefully she could stay under water and under the remaining pool cover out of sight. Sam looked around the shrubs he was crouched in. He couldn't stay in this position all night or he would lose feeling to his legs. He found an odd set of branches that made a nice seat for himself and settled in.

About four hours later, with nightfall having finally come, a light came on in the house. Sam almost stood right up and then remembered he was taller than the shrubs he sat in. A light came on at the back of the house, flooding the backyard in light. He looked for any kind of movement within, but all the doors and windows had drapes pulled firmly across them. For awhile nothing happened and Sam began to wonder if the lights had just been on a timer when the back door opened and a small, fluffy, white dog came sprinting out of the house.

Sam did his best not to move or make a sound. The dog raced around the pool a few times and then slowed along the far side of the yard, sniffing around a clump of trees. Glancing back at the house, Sam still didn't see anyone. So they just let the dog out and went back to whatever business they had been up to before. The dog took care of things over by the trees and then followed his nose around the yard as if he didn't already have the smell of the yard permanently mapped in his little brain.

Thankfully, the dog never came close to the back where Sam hid. He was sure if it had caught wind of him, he would have raised a holy terror. And no sooner had Sam thought that, than the dog started barking and growling, pulling Sam out of his thoughts. The dog stood near the pool and was staring hard at it and raising a din. There wasn't even a ripple to be found on the surface of what water did show. Perhaps he just smelled Dean and knew that something was off.

The door to the back of the house opened and a kid of about thirteen or fourteen popped their head out. "Hey, Carly! Cool your jets! Geez!" Carly didn't listen but kept running back and forth along the pool's edge huffing and growling and generally acting much bigger than she was. "Here. Maybe this will shut you up." The kid dropped a small bowl on the deck and poured some food into it. He then set up a small bowl of water and then went back inside.

The dog hesitated at the edge of the pool for a moment and then went over to have it's dinner. Shilassa's head popped out of the water, looking after the dog. "No!" Sam whispered. She turned her head in his direction. The last thing they needed was for her to snack on somebody's pet. "You can hear me?" Sam whispered again. She nodded her head. "You can't eat that dog. Seriously! If you need something to eat, I'll get you something but you can't -" At that moment the dog came prancing back in their direction. Sam stopped whispering and Shilassa dipped back below the surface of the pool. He held his breath, hoping and praying that she understood that the dog wasn't on the menu.


	15. Chapter 15

Sam shielded his eyes from the house light so he could see better. The little dog ran around the yard for a little bit and then stopped. Seemingly as if it had forgotten it was in the middle of something previously, it made a bee-line for the pool. It sniffed around at the edge for a bit not wanting to leave it alone. The top of Shilassa's head slowly came up out of the water to just below her eyes. Carly jumped back startled and growled. After a moment of a stare down, Carly slowly inched forward. As she did so, Sam noticed Shilassa's hands, flat against the edge of the pool, were inching up the side toward the edge. This didn't look good and Sam got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He decided to act on his gut. He jumped out of the bushes and ran toward the pool. Carly, startled, looked up at the towering man running for her. Unfortunately, Sam provided the needed distraction for Shilassa. Everything seemed to slow down. Sam noticed her jerk forward and he dove at her. He hit her and the water just as she made a grab for the dog. There was underwater rolling and grappling and confusion when all of a sudden there was a sharp pain in Sam's shoulder.

He let out a yell and Shilassa quickly pulled back. She had bitten him. As he looked at the blood slowly swirling through the water, everything began to spin, and he passed out. Carly, meanwhile, was letting up an unholy ruckus. Shilassa quickly grabbed Sam and pulled him back under the pool cover. She cradled him to her, plugged his nose with one hand, and put her mouth over his. She could hear the little human come running across the lawn.

"Carly! Carly! What are you doing in there?!" Shilassa saw the little dog get pulled from the water. "Man, Mrs. Fitzhugh is never gonna let me house and dog sit again if you keep this crap up! And how did the pool cover get pulled back?" The little human grabbed the edge of the tarp and pulled it back across the water. "Come on. Let's get you inside and dried off." The footsteps receded back across the lawn, the outside light went out, and they were alone again.

Shilassa kept breathing air into Sam's mouth while she rested her other hand on the wound she had given him. She closed her eyes and a light started to shine out from her hand. After a moment, she pulled her hand away and the bite wound was gone. All that remained were some tears in his jacket and shirt. She swam with him over to the edge of the pool furthest from the house and flipped the tarp back on itself again. As she did so, Sam regained consciousness.

Sam couldn't move. His arms were pinned, his face was being smothered, and he struggled. As soon as he started to fight, though, whatever had been restraining him fell away. He remembered the pool and the dog and quickly put his feet down. Nice thing about being this tall, is he could stand up in the deep end of most private pools. He quickly backed away from Shilassa, who remained still. "What the hell?"

She motioned toward the water and he warily dunked his head, keeping his eyes on her. "I was hungry. You got in the way. I apologize. I never intended to harm you." Sam popped his head up.

"And I told you, you can't eat a dog!" Sam whispered harshly. She just looked at him confused. "People domesticate animals to help out with work. Animals are used on farms, by the law enforcement, and by the disabled. Many domesticated animals are kept as pets." She frowned. "Companions. They become loved and cherished by their owners and to harm one is almost as bad as harming an actual member of the family." She motioned down at the water again.

"I think I understand. I have thoughts of animal helpers from my prakash. I am sorry. I need meat though. I need to fuel the change from tail to legs."

Sam popped his head up. "I can take care of that for you. I can get you meat. I assume raw, uncooked meat?" She nodded at him. "How much?" She motioned with her hands a pile about the size of a shoebox. _Man, that much meat is going to put a dent in the cash flow._ Sam nodded. "No problem. I'll take care of it. Stay here out of site and try not to eat anything til I get back, okay?" Again she nodded and actually looked a little sheepish. Sam rubbed at his shoulder. "Oh and thanks, for uh, fixing this." She smiled and dipped back under the water.

Sam lugged himself out of the pool. His clothes felt like they weighed a ton and water poured off him as he made his way back through the bushes to the car. He peeked into the car and, by the light of the streetlamp, spotted Dean sleeping in the front seat, his torso and head resting back against the door on his jacket. He grabbed the handle to the door and pulled it open, catching a startled Dean as he fell out.

"What the hell, man?" Dean realized something was off and jerked up and away from Sam. "Why the hell are you soaking wet?" He picked at his shirt, feeling some of the water that had soaked through from Sam, making a face.

"Shilassa is hungry. You need to go get us some raw meat about the size of a shoebox." Dean pulled himself from the car and put his jacket on. "I just kept her from eating the dog."

Dean turned, then, and really looked at Sam. "Did you now?" He grinned. "Surprised she didn't eat you instead. A moose is a definite trade up from ankle-biter."

"You're hilarious." Sam held out his hand and Dean handed over the keys with a chuckle. "And she tried. Well, actually I got between them and she bit me." Sam dug around in the trunk for a change of clothes. Unfortunately, their towels had been used to clean up the backseat. Getting an evil grin of his own, Sam grabbed one of Dean's t-shirts and draped it over the bumper.

"She what?" Dean asked, leaning against the side of the car, clearing the cobwebs from his brain.

Sitting on the bumper, next to the tee, Sam started stripping out of his wet clothes. "She apologized and healed it no worries." Sam grabbed Dean's tee and started drying off with it. "But if we're trying to remain hidden. I don't think a mermaid snacking on the local pets will help with that."

"Okay, okay. In all seriousness, how much meat did you say I needed to get for her?" Dean came around the back of the car. "That better not be one of my t-shirts, dude." Dean got an eyeful of Sam drying off his crotch with a dark tee and quickly turned his back. Sam only chuckled in response. "Shit, man! You can have it now!"

"Aww. That's sweet, Dean. But your little girly tees would never fit my large manly frame." Sam laughed and tossed the wet t-shirt at his brother's head.

"UGH!" Dean grabbed it off his head and quickly threw it to the ground, wiping his hands along his jeans. "Bitch."

"Jerk. And you need this much." Dean turned part way around peeking out of a squeezed shut eye. "I'm decent enough, Dean." He turned all the way around to find Sammy in a pair of shorts and holding his hands out. "Like the size of a shoebox."

"Yeah? Whose shoes? Mine or your boats?"

"Funny."

"Alright, alright. Be back in a bit. Try not to go for any more swims til I get back."

"Not a problem. I'm running out of clothes. Our next stop needs to include a trip to a laundromat."

"Word." Dean tossed over his shoulder as he walked away down the alley.

Sam finished getting dressed, picked up Dean's tee and tossed it in the trunk, then made himself comfortable in the shrubs again. About two hours later, Dean was back with a plastic grocery bag. "Do I want to know how much that cost?"

"Seriously, Sammy? At this time of night? Let's just say, after the five finger discount, it was quite reasonable."

Dean squeezed past Sam and through to the yard. As he approached the pool, Shilassa popped her head out. "I

hear you're hungry."

She smiled and nodded her head. Dean set the bag down an the edge of the pool. "Help yourself and try not to eat my brother again, okay?" She smiled up at him and went for the bag with gusto.

Dean went back to Sam. "Go ahead and get some sleep. I got it from here. We'll want to leave before full daylight."


	16. Chapter 16

There was just a glint of dawn on the horizon when Dean roused Shilassa and told her to get ready. He had gotten a fresh pair of jeans and another of Sam's shirts for her. Sam was right, they needed a laundry trip desperately. He got Sam to scooch over into a somewhat upright position and got in behind the wheel. Once everyone was in he set out. He went through a Dunkin Donuts drive thru and got them coffee and breakfast on the way out of town. Once Sam was more awake, he told him his plans for their next night.

"I figure we only go a few hours down the road this time. I don't want another mess in the car, man. So get on your laptop, see what there is about three hours down the road and make us a reservation somewhere with a jacuzzi room."

"Seriously, Dean?"

"Don't get any ideas. I just thought a jacuzzi would be a bit bigger and give her a little more room than your average motel tub. At least, the types of motels we usually stay in."

Sam nodded, accepting his logic and pulled out his phone. He messed around for a bit and then said "Okay we have the Jacuzzi room at Baymont Inn &amp; Suites in Willows, California. That's roughly three hours down the road. How do you plan on getting her in there?"

"Well I'm hoping she'll be able to walk in, but I have an idea just in case. Ah! Speaking of which...here we go." Dean pulled into a strip mall and around to the back of the building. He cruised slowly along until he found whatever it was he was looking for and stopped the car.

"Dean..."

"Just stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Dean shut off the car and hopped out. He let himself into the back supply door of one of the businesses in the mall while Sam kept Shilassa company.

"So, um...sleep well? I mean, you do sleep, right?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Sorry we can't really talk well while in the car. You get enough to eat last night?"

She shrugged.

"Well, now that we know what you need, we can get you more when we stop again."

She smiled.

"We, uhh, we don't plan on driving for long today. Only about three hours. We have a ton of laundry to do."

She frowned at him and did her little head tilt of confusion.

"Our clothes." Sam pinched his shirt at the shoulder and wiggled it. "They get dirty and smelly after a while. We need to wash them."

She nodded and jumped when the trunk flung up behind her.

"Dean must be done with whatever he's up to."

Dean hopped in and started up the car. Sam gave him a questioning look and Dean just grinned. "Let's hit the road, huh?"

Dean cranked up the tunes and the time passed quickly. As they got closer to Willows, Shilassa started making little squeaks. Sam turned but couldn't see anything out of order. Shilassa seemed distressed though. "Something seems wrong, but I'm not sure what." Sam said quietly.

"Well, we're just about there. Tell her to hold her water."

When they got into Willows, Dean seemed to get distracted. "What's up? What's the problem?"

Dean kept scanning the buildings around them. "I'm looking for a gas station."

"But we don't need gas and...Dean you just passed a gas station!"

"Not the right kind." He answered distracted. Sam frowned and shook his head. Who knew what was going on in that head of his. "Ah! Here we go!" He pulled into a station and backed the car in along the side of the building. He jumped out and went into the station, coming back with the key to the restroom.

"You stopped to use a restroom? That Gas 'n' Sip back there probably had a much nicer bathroom." Sam called out the window.

"Yeah but we need one that you don't walk through a crowded mini-mart to get to." Dean opened the trunk and came back around to Shilassa's door. "Come on, Ariel. Time for a wardrobe change."

Sam got out of the car and stretched. Glancing at Dean, he frowned. "Is that a..."

"Yup. Sam meet your bride to be." Dean helped Shilassa out of the car and stuffed a large white poof of fabric into Sam's arms. Dean went over to the bathroom and, using the key he was given inside, opened the door. "Now get in there and help her get dressed." Dean stood back, holding the door open, and motioned inside.

"What's this all about?" Sam asked.

"This is how we're getting her inside the hotel!" Dean said as if it were completely obvious.

"I thought you said she was walking in."

"This is our insurance." Dean glanced at the worried look on Shilassa's face. "You might want to hurry up, there, sport."

Sam let out a heavy sigh and went to the door. "Come on. It appears you'll need a disguise for our hotel." He led Shilassa into the restroom and Dean leaned against the car waiting. On a whim he dug out his phone and aimed it at the restroom. When the door opened he snapped a photo of Sammy and his bride.

"Wait til I send this to Bobby! He'll never make us take a vacation again!" He busted up laughing while Sam graced him with one of his bitch faces. "Alright, everyone in!" He held open the back door while Sam attempted to help Shilassa into the car. It took a while to get all the foof and frills of the dress into the car.

"Let's get to the hotel already." Sam grumped. Dean chuckled and pulled out. Within minutes they were pulling into the hotel.

"Damn, this place is nice! Probably the best we've ever stayed in, eh Sammy?" Dean exclaimed as they pulled into the parking lot. Dean was leaning over as he drove and gaping out through the front window. He pulled up under the front portico and hopped out. He leaned in his window from outside. "Sit tight. Gonna check us in and get our room keys."

Shilassa made a small screech in the backseat. "Almost there." Sam assured her. Dean came back and handed a key card to Sam.

"Look key cards! They don't even use keys here!" Dean was like a little kid. Sam was thinking this was going to be a long day. He'll be lucky if he didn't catch Dean jumping on the beds later.

Dean drove the car around back and into a spot. Right this way. They got out and Sam opened Shilassa's door for her. She didn't move. "Shilassa? We're here. You can get out now." Sam encouraged her.

She looked uncomfortable. Maybe it was the dress. Sam held his hand out to her and she eventually grabbed it and got out. She groaned and put her hands on the roof of the car. Dean and Sam exchanged worried looks. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Dean elbowed Sam. "Hey, Mr. Fergusen, you're supposed to carry your bride across the threshold." Sam looked at him like he had lost his mind. Dean nodded his head toward Shilassa in a pointed manner. "Go on, Sammy."

Sam sighed. "Let me carry you in, Shilassa. Dean seems to think we need to play a little game in order to stay at this hotel." He smiled at her and chukled. She looked nervously between the guys and finally nodded her head. Sam bent and lifted her in his arms. Dean chuckled again and when Sam looked over at him, he noticed that he had snapped another picture with his phone. "Dean, knock it off."

As Dean backed toward the door into the hotel he took another picture. "What, Sammy? We need pictures from our vacation. Isn't that what normal people do?"

"And didn't I say we weren't normal people?"

"Hey...when in Rome..." Dean turned and used his key card to unlock the outer door when there was a squishy sploosh of a sound. He turned back around and noticed a puddle at Sam's feet? "Well, good thing we have the dress, huh bro?" With another chuckle he held the door open to them. "Elevator should be right down the hall."

Sam made his way through the open door and down the hall. Dean caught up and pressed the button for the elevator. When it arrived and the doors opened, a man stepped out. He caught sight of the wedding gown and said a quick congratulations. They squeezed past him and into the open elevator car. He looked down at his feet as they went by and noticed the drops of gelatinous ooze that followed Sam and Shilassa into the elevator. He turned and gave them a strange look as the doors closed in his face.

Dean led the way down the hall to their room and opened the door. "Your room, Mr. and Mrs. Fergusen." He held his arm out toward the room beyond. Sam carried her in and set her on the edge of a huge jacuzzi tub that sat in the corner of the room. Dean set about filling it with water and Shilassa and Sam worked at getting the wedding dress off of her. Once it was filled most of the way, Shilassa slipped in and a relieved look of pleasure spread across her face. She reached up and put her hands on either side of Dean's head and pulled his head into the water. He flailed his arms a bit and Sam grabbed him around the waist to keep him from falling all the way into the tub with her.

"I do not understand your strange customs, but thank you for taking care of me on this trip."

Dean stood up and shook his head, coughing a bit. "Yeah sure thing, Ariel. I'm going to assume you're hungry?"

She nodded her head vigorously. "You want the same as before?" She shook her head no. "Um, more?" She nodded an emphatic yes. "Okay. Sam, I'm going on another shopping trip. Back soon." He walked out whistling a happy tune, water still dripping from his hair.

When Dean returned, he found Sam and Shilassa watching some sort of cooking show on the tv. Sam looked up at him and grinned. "She's enthralled with the fact that we cook our food."

"Well, speaking of food. Shilassa I have brought you ten pounds of mixed meat. A veritable smorgasbord!" Dean set two grocery bags on the little table next to the jacuzzi. "Now. Me and Sammy, here, have to go do some laundry. You gonna be okay here with your meal and the tv?"

She smiled up at him and nodded and then leaned out trying to see the tv around him. He chuckled. "Alright then, we'll be as quick as we can."


	17. Chapter 17

Sam swung by the front desk to get quarters for his cash while Dean brought the car around. Dean sat tapping the wheel to the beat of some Boston tune when Sam finally came out. "About time. What took so long?"

"He kept trying to tell me they had laundry service and were more than happy to do our laundry for us. Took a bit to talk him out of it."

Dean chuckled. "I can just see the poor maids face when she catches sight of the rabbit blood all over your one shirt." He continued to chuckle as he pulled out onto the road.

"We really should have done laundry before we went on this crazy camping trip." Sam looked out the windows for a moment. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Yup. Googled it."

"You googled it. You."

"Hey! I got mad google skills." Dean took a left and headed down a small side street.

"Whatever." Sam smiled. They really had needed this time away. Ever since Dad had passed, Dean had been acting differently. Twitchy. He seemed much more relaxed the last few days. "So, what do you think of this whole mermaid thing?"

Dean was quiet for a minute. "I think it's probably one of the strangest things we've done in a while."

"I think she has the hots for you. You better watch it when we get her to the ocean."

"Shut your cakehole. She's a … thing. Okay?"

"I'm just saying. The lore says mermaids are known for luring men into the water to become slave-like husbands. Stay on your toes tomorrow."

"Uh-huh." Dean answered distractedly as he pulled into a little laundromat.

They lugged their bags of laundry in and were pleased to find the place empty aside from the attendant who was currently half in one of the dryers. They made their way over to a couple washers and started loading them up. Dean stripped out of his clothes, down to his boxer briefs. "Dean."

"What?"

"You can't sit around in here in your underwear."

At that there was a thunk and a curse from the dryer to their right. The attendant pulled out from the dryer, screwdriver in hand, rubbing the back of her head. She turned to them, blushing, and quickly turned back.

"Hey sweetheart. Where's the soap vending?" Dean sauntered over, making her blush more.

"Far wall, by the drinking fountain."

Dean leaned in and looked at her name tag. "Thanks, Suz." He winked at her, grabbed some change and headed over to the machine.

"You'll have to excuse my brother. I think he was raised in a barn."

"No harm. Really." She blushed again and went back to work on the dryer.

Sam finished loading the machines and sat in a chair to wait it out. Dean came back with some detergent and got the washers humming. "So, where should we drop..." He looked around the laundromat surreptitiously, "Where do we drop you-know-who off tomorrow?"

"I'm thinking the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. You can get right down to the water there."

"Hey Suz." Thunk and curse. Dean grinned. "You got wifi in this place?"

"Yes." Echoed out of the dryer.

"Cool. Sammy, show me."

I don't need wifi to use my phone, Dean."

"Whatever."

Sam pulled out his phone and brought up the park. Dean leaned over and scanned the screen. "Where are we now?" Sam scrolled around a bit.

"Here we are. I'd say a couple hours, tops."

"I think we should head out tonight then. Release her under cover of darkness." Dean looked back at the dryer where Suz was tinkering.

"Release her? Like you're releasing some animal back into the wild?" Sam shook his head.

"Well? Think about it. That is what we're doing."

"I suppose so. She said her people would return the favor. What do you think she means?"

Dean leaned back and propped his bare feet up on one of the rolling laundry baskets. "I don't know. Maybe they'll protect us next time we're out at sea. Which will be never."

"Heh, yeah. I guess so."

"Hey. You still have clothes on... Why don't you go find us something to eat?"

Sam looked at Dean and saw he was quite serious. "Fine." He sighed. "Try to behave yourself while I'm gone."

When Sam returned, Dean was playing Gin with Suz. They ate, they chatted and played cards, and finished their laundry. Back at the hotel, Shilassa seemed to be asleep. She was below the surface and her eyes were closed.

"That's not freaky." Dean threw himself onto one of the beds. "Get some shut eye Sammy. We roll out at three am."

They were on the road by three thirty. It only took a couple hours and, after a wrong turn, Dean had them where they wanted to be. As they were getting out of the car, Sam grabbed the cooler. "What's that for?"

"I thought we'd want to say proper goodbyes." Sam answered.

"FYI, Sammy, one does not say anything properly with their head in a cooler full of water."

Sam grinned and, not be deterred by Dean's comments, went in search of a spigot to fill it with. Dean stood awkwardly at the car with Shilassa. "So, uh, you nervous? About meeting your people for the first time, I mean?"

She looked at him and shook her head no.

Dean nodded. He was never one for small talk and was more apt to stand in silence than fill the void with mindless dribble. So he leaned back against the car and waited with her. Finally Sam called out and waved a flashlight at them. They made their way down a small hill and found Sam and the cooler at a picnic table. Dean could hear the water quietly lapping against the shore not too far away. They gathered around the cooler and looked at each other. Sam finally broke the silence.

"So. I guess this is goodbye. I hope this wasn't too stressful for you and I'm glad we could help you out." Dean just nodded his head in agreement.

Shilassa looked from Dean to the cooler and back again. "Fine." There may have been a mumbled _damn it_ under Dean's breath, but Sam couldn't tell for sure. "It's friggin cold out for this, you know." Dean shucked out of his jacket and pulled off his shirt and tee. He looked at them, took a big breath, and dunked his head.

"I thank you both for all that you have done. It will not be forgotten and my people will thank you appropriately. You pulled yourselves out of your daily lives to help me return. Thank you." She pulled Dean up out of the cooler by his hair and, as he sputtered and cursed, she pulled him into a hug. She then hugged Sam as well. She smiled and nodded to both of them, removed her borrowed clothes, and walked down the hill and into the water.

Dean whistled. "Glad that's over. Not a bad view here, huh?"

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. "It's still dark, Dean." Dean tilted his head to the side a bit, watching Shilassa's naked form fade into the dark. Sam sighed. He should have known. "I was expecting a bit more of a goodbye." Sam grabbed the cooler and dumped the water out onto the grass. "Let's head back to Bobby's. Stow the camping gear and get back to work. What do you say?"

"Best idea you've had in ages, Sammy. I need to kill something." Dean turned and headed back to the car, already mentally moving on.


	18. Chapter 18

Epilogue – 2 months later

"Hey. When you boys gonna be back round this way?"

"Well, we're actually on our way there now. Dean wants to give Baby a proper tune up. Was hoping to use your garage. Why?"

"You two have a package here. Arrived day before yesterday." Bobby sounded puzzled.

"Who's it from?" Sam frowned in Dean's direction.

"Doesn't say."

"Well we should be there tomorrow. Guess it'll have to wait til then."

"What was that about?" Dean asked, turning his music back on.

"Bobby says there's a package waiting for us at the house. Doesn't say who it's from." Dean offered a non-committal 'huh' and that was that.

* * *

"So, where's this package?" Dean called out, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Well, hello to you too." Bobby grumped, coming around the corner from the hallway.

"Hey Bobby. How's it going?" Sam greeted Bobby with a quick hug and pat on the back.

"As good as can be expected, thanks for asking." Bobby gave Dean the stink eye. "Package is in the den, on the desk."

They all filed into the den and Dean picked up the box. "Shit, this sucker is heavy!" He handed it to Sam who raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Sam looked the box over. "Other than an address that looks like it was written by a child, I can't see any other markings on here."

"Nope." Bobby added.

Sam set it on the desk and pulled out a pocket knife and cut the tape on the box. Just inside the lid was a micro-cassette recorder with tape. He pulled it out and set it on the desk next to the box. "What's the smell?" Dean asked.

"Smells like something rotting." Bobby offered. "Thought I smelled something before. It's a lot stronger now the box is open, though."

"We sure we want to see what else is in there?" Sam asked looking from Dean to Bobby.

"How about we listen to the tape first." Dean suggested. The other two nodded and so he picked up the little recorder and hit play. At first there was just static and then a horrible screeching filled the air. Dean dropped the recorder in surprise and it clicked off. He shared a knowing look with Sam.

"What in the holy hell was that?" Bobby asked.

"Aww shit. I thought I was done with this." Dean let out a heavy sigh and Sam grinned.

"What do you think? Kitchen sink?" Sam suggested.

"Good a place as any." Dean started pulling off his tops. He hated the water dripping down and getting his clothes wet.

"What the...? What is it?" Bobby demanded.

"That, my friend, is mermaid speak." Sam answered as he went to the kitchen and started filling one side of the sink with water.

Bobby's eyes widened with surprise. "So this package is from your wife?"

Sam clenched his jaw and Dean guffawed. "I still haven't paid you back for those pictures."

"Good luck with that." Dean laughed. "Okay, let's do this." Dean took the recorder in hand, set his thumb on the play button, and dunked his head.

"My dear friends. I hope this finds you in good health and spirits. I told you when we parted that we would repay the favor. This box, hopefully, contains enough money to pay for many more camping adventures for you both. Beyond that though..." Dean came up for air.

"No way." He went back into the den and pulled out the pieces of newspaper that had been used as packing material. In the bottom of the box was a small bag that appeared to have been made of leather. He grabbed it up and it crumbled in his hands, leaving it's contents behind.

Sam and Bobby had come up behind him to see what was going on. "That must have been what we smelled rotting." Bobby picked up a small tattered piece of the bag. "This looks to be very old."

"I would say so." Dean held his hand out to them. "Check what was inside it." In his hand was a small pile of about ten or twelve chunky looking coins. "Are these what I think they are?"

Sam and Bobby each took a few and looked them over while Dean relayed what the first part of the message said. "I'd say you have yourself some sunken treasure, boys. These look like old gold coins."

Dean whooped and pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! Oh baby, this will fund a lot of stuff!"

"Calm down, ya idjit. It'll take me a while to fence these. You're looking at months, probably." That took some of the wind out of Dean's sails, but not all of it.

"Let's see what the rest of the message is." Sam said. They headed back into the kitchen and took up their spots once more.

Dean dunked in and hit play "...I wanted to let you know that our memories are long and the names Dean and Sam Winchester will not be forgotten. They have been added to our histories and to our common prakash. Our descendents will know of your aid to me, their queen. If..."

Dean popped his up so quickly he nailed it on the faucet. "Shit. No way."

"Now what? Give!" Sam demanded.

"Shilassa is the queen of her people and they have added our names to their prakash so that all their descendents will know who we are."

"Queen huh? If she's my wife, that makes me king. I guess I get to start bossing you around now, huh?"

"Yeah. Fat chance, bitch." Dean dunked down to listen to the last of the message.

"...you or your descendents ever require our aid, you need only speak the name Winchester to any of my people and our help is yours. Thank you, once again, and may the current always be at your back."

**FIN**

**AN: I want to thank the Harry Potter universe for letting me play with mermaids. When I saw the movies with the mermaid eggs that they had to be under water to understand, I thought it was a brilliant idea and just had to play with it! Hope you all enjoyed this little mindless romp! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Stay tuned...my "a year in the making" Baby fic is almost near completion!**


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